Sample records for engineering challenges preprint

Full Text Available The time it takes for a completed manuscript to be published traditionally can be extremely lengthy. Article publication delay, which occurs in part due to constraints associated with peer review, can prevent the timely dissemination of critical and actionable data associated with new information on rare diseases or developing health concerns such as Zika virus. Preprint servers are open access online repositories housing preprint research articles that enable authors (1 to make their research immediately and freely available and (2 to receive commentary and peer review prior to journal submission. There is a growing movement of preprint advocates aiming to change the current journal publication and peer review system, proposing that preprints catalyze biomedical discovery, support career advancement, and improve scientific communication. While the number of articles submitted to and hosted by preprint servers are gradually increasing, there has been no simple way to identify biomedical research published in a preprint format, as they are not typically indexed and are only discoverable by directly searching the specific preprint server websites. To address this issue, we created a search engine that quickly compiles preprints from disparate host repositories and provides a one-stop search solution. Additionally, we developed a web application that bolsters the discovery of preprints by enabling each and every word or phrase appearing on any web site to be integrated with articles from preprint servers. This tool, search.bioPreprint, is publicly available at http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/resources/preprint.

The number of students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is declining due in part to a lack of student interest (Fairweather 2008; NRC 2012; PCAST 2010). One reason may be the difference between how science is done in school and how it is done in the field (Osborne, Simon, and Collins 2003). An interdisciplinary…

“Engineering Education: Challenges for Innovation” is the scope of the 1st International Conference of the Portuguese Society for Engineering Education (in Portuguese: Sociedade Portuguesa para a Educação em Engenharia, SPEE) [1]. SPEE is a young society now completing four years since its public presentation and launching by the Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, in February 19, 2010. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

With the Intense Neutron Generator (ING) we intend to produce a neutron flux of 10{sup 16} n/cm{sup 2} sec. Bismuth, bombarded by 1 GeV protons, yields about 20 neutrons per proton with a heat output of 23 MeV/neutron. A circulating liquid bismuth target will dissipate about 34 MW of heat. To produce the beam we will accelerate protons in a separated orbit cyclotron. The 65 mA current will require about 70-75 MW of radio-frequency power (50-200 Mc/s). We must generate and transmit RF efficiently. In ING precise magnet-fields, resonating-cavity electric-fields and well maintained vacuum (10{sup -6} torr) will place demands on most of today's engineering technology. (author)

With the Intense Neutron Generator (ING) we intend to produce a neutron flux of 10 16 n/cm 2 sec. Bismuth, bombarded by 1 GeV protons, yields about 20 neutrons per proton with a heat output of 23 MeV/neutron. A circulating liquid bismuth target will dissipate about 34 MW of heat. To produce the beam we will accelerate protons in a separated orbit cyclotron. The 65 mA current will require about 70-75 MW of radio-frequency power (50-200 Mc/s). We must generate and transmit RF efficiently. In ING precise magnet-fields, resonating-cavity electric-fields and well maintained vacuum (10 -6 torr) will place demands on most of today's engineering technology. (author)

Engineering Ethics: Challenges and Opportunities aims to set a new agenda for the engineering profession by developing a key challenge: can the great technical innovation of engineering be matched by a corresponding innovation in the acceptance and expression of ethical responsibility? Central features of this stimulating text include: · An analysis of engineering as a technical and ethical practice providing great opportunities for promoting the wellbeing and agency of individuals and communities. · Elucidation of the ethical opportunities of engineering in three key areas: - Engineering for Peace, emphasising practical amelioration of the root causes of conflict rather than military solutions. - Engineering for Health, focusing on close collaboration with healthcare professionals for both the promotion and restoration of health. - Engineering for Development, providing effective solution...

The authors developed The Paper Plane Challenge as one of a three-part response to The Aerospace EngineeringChallenge. The Aerospace EngineeringChallenge was the second of three multi-part activities that they had developed with the teachers during the year. Their aim was to introduce students to the exciting world of engineering, where they…

Many challenges and opportunities face the engineering profession and engineering education. The engineering profession advances best if challenges are properly addressed, opportunities beneficially exploited and reasoned speculation made on future trends. In this article, the author presents his views on some of the challenges and opportunities facing the engineering education, and possible future trends, with the objective of fostering continued discussion of and action on these issues. This topic is of great importance because the development of engineering education is strongly influenced by the challenges and opportunities it faces and how it responds, and by anticipated future trends. (author)

As college students enter engineering, they face challenges when they navigate across various transitions. These challenges impact whether a student can successfully adapt to the rigorous curricular requirements of an engineering degree and to the norms and expectations that are particular to engineering. This article focuses on the transitions…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators are facing the challenge of attracting more students. The disparity between the need for engineers and the enrollment of engineering students is growing (Genalo, Bruning, & Adams, 2000), and career aspirations of high school students are inconsistent with the employment…

Successful strategies for incorporating engineering design challenges into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in American high schools are presented in this paper. The developers have taken the position that engineering design experiences should be an important component of the high school education of all American…

This paper describes the analysis of problems and development perspectives of engineering education in our and other countries. Special attention is given to modern formats of education that motivate creative efforts of engineers-to-be as well as issues of conceptual engineering taking the challenges of modernity into account.

Successful strategies for incorporating engineering design challenges into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in American high schools are presented in this paper. The developers have taken the position that engineering design experiences should be an important component of the high school education of all American youth. In most instances, these experiences in engineering design are infused into instruction programs in standards-based courses in science, technol...

Engineers today are in an enviable position to channelise new knowledge and evolving technologies through their innovative engineering abilities to create wealth and improve quality of life of our people. Talking in terms of energy, the energy associated with nucleus being millions-fold higher than that associated with a molecule, nuclear energy provides an inevitable sustainable option that can provide for all without any significant environmental impact. Here, we thus have a mission which can provide us with solutions which the scientists and engineers must come together and implement

No. 975 preprint of the Fall 1997 JSAE was summarized. As for the engine development, papers were made public on a study of reciprocating engine with Z mechanism, the combustion control system, etc. Attention was paid to internal combustion engine-electricity hybrid systems in terms of global warming prevention, and a study was made of environmental improvement effects by introducing next-generation automobiles. Image analysis and computer utilization in the structural design were also described. As to diesel engines, the combustion system and the exhaust gas problem were much studied. Also made were flow analysis on air conditioning and evaluation on the indoor thermal environment. Concerning the manufacturing process and materials, a lot of improvements were made public on thermal fatique resistance, reinforced materials, adoption of ceramics, corrosion resistance/wear resistance, etc. Operability and human engineering, and dynamics and safety are also important themes. Relating to the fuel, low fuel comsumption and additives were studied. The paper reported transmissions and the control systems, torque-transmitting mechanism, frictional property, etc. Especially, research/development were also much made of friction/wear resistant materials. ed and developed

Full Text Available to contribute to greater international understanding of the issues, challenges and opportunities facing engineering, with a particular focus on contributions of our discipline to sustainable development. The Report, one of the most cost-effective reports UNESCO...

Systems engineering is a discipline with methods and techniques to address complex problems. We want to study how Systems Engineering methods can help to address today's grand challenges, such as the energy problem. The first step is problem definition which aims at articulating the problem in its

Technology has been changing world in ways never imagined. The ever-evolving society and rapid development posed different demands and challenges to the engineering profession. Addressing these challenges means to re-vision and reform the ways we educate future engineers and the attributes need...... to be enhanced. This paper reports a literature review with aim to (1) understand the different stakeholders’ perspectives, namely students, educators, and employers, (2) understand the profile of the global engineer (i.e. knowledge, competences and skills), and (3) outline and discuss learning strategies....... As a result, the paper presents the main gaps in the existing knowledge, formulates research hypothesis, and proposes a research design for a follow up empirical study to investigate further the engineering grand challenges, the attributes needed to solve them, and the learning environments required....

We propose a framework to engineer synthetic-inertia and droop-control parameters for distributed energy resources (DERs) so that the system frequency in a network composed of DERs and synchronous generators conforms to prescribed transient and steady-state performance specifications. Our approach is grounded in a second-order lumped-parameter model that captures the dynamics of synchronous generators and frequency-responsive DERs endowed with inertial and droop control. A key feature of this reduced-order model is that its parameters can be related to those of the originating higher-order dynamical model. This allows one to systematically design the DER inertial and droop-control coefficients leveraging classical frequency-domain response characteristics of second-order systems. Time-domain simulations validate the accuracy of the model-reduction method and demonstrate how DER controllers can be designed to meet steady-state-regulation and transient-performance specifications.

The biomedical engineering programme at the University of Cape Town has the potential to address some of South Africa's unique public health challenges and to contribute to growth of the local medical device industry, directly and indirectly, through research activities and postgraduate education. Full realisation of this potential requires engagement with the clinical practice environment and with industry.

Nowadays we have a proliferation of music data available over the Web. One of the imperative challenges is how to search these vast, global-scale musical resources to find preferred music. Recent research has envisaged the notion of music search engines (MSEs) that allow for searching preferred...

The author poses certain questions in this paper: 'In the future, should there be just one software engineering standards set? If so, how can we work towards that goal? What are the challenges of internationalizing standards?' Based on the author's personal view, the statement of his position is as follows: 'There should NOT be just one set of software engineering standards in the future. At the same time, there should NOT be the proliferation of standards, and the number of sets of standards should be kept to a minimum.It is important to understand the diversification of the areas which are spanned by the software engineering standards.' The author goes on to describe the diversification of processes, the diversification in the national and international character of standards organizations, the diversification of the professional organizations producing standards, the diversification of the types of businesses and industries, and the challenges of internationalizing standards.

Laser ignition (LI) has been shown to offer many potential benefits compared to spark ignition (SI) for improving the performance of internal combustion (IC) engines. This paper outlines progress made in recent research on laser ignited IC engines, discusses the potential advantages and control opportunities and considers the challenges faced and prospects for its future implementation. An experimental research effort has been underway at the University of Liverpool (UoL) to extend the stratified speed/load operating region of the gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine through LI research, for which an overview of some of the approaches, testing and results to date are presented. These indicate how LI can be used to improve control of the engine for: leaner operation, reductions in emissions, lower idle speed and improved combustion stability.

Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are interdisciplinary fields that apply principles of engineering and life sciences to develop biological substitutes, typically composed of biological and synthetic components, that restore, maintain or improve tissue function. Many tissue engineering technologies are still at a laboratory or pre-commercial scale. The short review paper describes the most significant manufacturing and bio-process challenges inherent in the commercialisation and exploitation of the exciting results emerging from the biological and clinical laboratories exploring tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. A three-generation road map of the industry has been used to structure a view of these challenges and to define where the manufacturing community can contribute to the commercial success of the products from these emerging fields. The first-generation industry is characterised by its demonstrated clinical applications and products in the marketplace, the second is characterised by emerging clinical applications, and the third generation is characterised by aspirational clinical applications. The paper focuses on the cost reduction requirement of the first generation of the industry to allow more market penetration and consequent patient impact. It indicates the technological requirements, for instance the creation of three-dimensional tissue structures, and value chain issues in the second generation of the industry. The third-generation industry challenges lie in fundamental biological and clinical science. The paper sets out a road map of these generations to identify areas for research.

The current fusion development scenario in Europe assumes the sequential achievement of key milestones. Firstly, the qualification of the DEMO/reactor physics basis in ITER, secondly, the qualification of materials for in-vessel components in IFMIF and, thirdly, the qualification of components and processes in DEMO. Although this scenario is constrained by budgetary considerations, it assumes the resolution of many challenges in physics, technology and engineering. In the first part of the paper, the technological and engineeringchallenges to be met in order to satisfy the current development scenario will be highlighted. These challenges will be met by an appropriate share of the work between ITER, IFMIF, DEMO and the necessary accompanying programme, which will have to include a number of dedicated facilities (e.g. for the development of H and CD systems). In the second part of the paper, the consequences of a considerable acceleration of the fusion development programme will be discussed. Although most of the technological and engineeringchallenges identified above will have to be met within a shorter timescale, it is possible to limit the requirements and expectation for a first fusion power plant with respect to those adopted for the current fusion development scenario. However, it must be recognised that such a strategy will inevitably result in increased risk and a reduction in the economy of the plant. (author)

Trends in chip technology and system design are causing a revolution in high-performance computing. The emergence of multicore processor chips, the construction of very large computing systems, and the increasing need to deal with power and energy issues in these systems are three of the most significant changes. We focus on the way that these trends have created a new set of challenges in the area of performance engineering, the measurement, analysis, and tuning of computing systems and applications. We discuss these changes and outline recent work at the Renaissance Computing Institute to meet these challenges

The Challenge of Reframing Engineering Education is the first book to document the experience of implementing the CDIO Engineering Educational Framework in a large educational institution in the Asian context. It focuses on how to successfully implement and manage the key stages, activities and inevitable challenges that have to be negotiated in any large scale curriculum innovation. Its main purpose is to provide a practical resource for curriculum innovators and practitioners on what needs to be done, how and on what basis. It is written in a more narrative style than is typical of the genre, engaging the reader more intimately with the actual decision making processes and rationale that underpins curriculum innovation in the real context of institutional life. The book also encompasses many innovative practices for supporting student learning which are relevant in all mainstream educational contexts. These include an evidence-based learning approach for creative teaching, an explicit model for developing g...

The first recorded usage of the word reliability dates back to the 1800s, albeit referred to a person and not a technical system. Since then, the concept of reliability has become a pervasive attribute worth of both qualitative and quantitative connotations. In particular, the revolutionary social, cultural and technological changes that have occurred from the 1800s to the 2000s have contributed to the need for a rational framework and quantitative treatment of the reliability of engineered systems and plants. This has led to the rise of reliability engineering as a scientific discipline. In this paper, some considerations are shared with respect to a number of problems and challenges which researchers and practitioners in reliability engineering are facing when analyzing today's complex systems. The focus will be on the contribution of reliability to system safety and on its role within system risk analysis

Chemical engineering processes and operations are closely involved in every step of the nuclear fuel cycle. Starting from mining and milling of the ore through the production of fuel and other materials and their use in nuclear reactors, fuel reprocessing, fissile material recycle and treatment and disposal of fission product wastes, each step presents a challenge to the chemical engineer to evolve and innovate processes and techniques for more efficient utilization of the energy in the atom. The requirement of high recovery of the desired components at high purity levels is in itself a challenge. ''Nuclear Grade'' specifications for materials put a requirement which very few industries can satisfy. Recovery of uranium and thorium from low grade ores, of heavy water from raw water, etc. are examples. Economical and large scale separation of isotopes particularly those of heavy elements is a task for which processess are under various stages of development. Further design of chemical plants such as fuel reprocessing plants and high level waste treatment plants, which are to be operated and maintained remotely due to the high levels of radio-activity call for engineering skills which are being continually evolved. In the reactor, analysis of the fluid mechanics and optimum design of heat removal system are other examples where a chemical engineer can play a useful role. In addition to the above, the activities in the nuclear industry cover a very wide range of chemical engineering applications, such as desalination and other energy intensive processes, radioisotope and radiation applications in industry, medicine and agriculture. (auth.)

The National Research Council's report, Frontiers in Chemical Engineering, was written four years ago. Three high-priority research areas concerned with energy and the environment were identified in the report: in situ processing, liquid fuels for the future, and responsible management of hazardous wastes. As outlined in the recently released National Energy Strategy, in situ processing is viewed by the Department of Energy (DOE) primarily through its use in enhanced oil recovery, and some research is still funded. Industry, driven by the economics of low oil prices, is doing little research on in situ processing but much more on reservoir characterization, a prerequisite to processing. Research on liquid fuels for the future is driven more by environmental concerns now than by energy security concerns. It appears to be wise policy for the future to try to solve the alternative fuel problem as quickly and simply as possible. Otherwise, the nation will find itself with a costly and complex fuel and vehicle system that may have to be changed again in a generation. For the interim, we should look closely at reformulated gasoline followed by compressed natural gas, if necessary. In the long run, vehicle systems based on electricity seem most promising for the middle of the next century. To deliver this technology we need to capitalize on three new high-priority research areas: batteries, fuel cells, and nuclear power. For chemical engineers, future challenges of a different sort will be added to the technical challenges, among them are explaining to a skeptical public the wisdom of proceeding to design the interim system of alternative fuel(s) and to move expeditiously to a final solution

The presentation describes the challenges facing the turbine engine control system. These challenges are primarily driven by a dependence on commercial electronics and an increasingly severe environment on board the turbine engine. The need for distributed control is driven by the need to overcome these system constraints and develop a new growth path for control technology and, as a result, improved turbine engine performance.

Over the next several decades, a profound transformation of the global energy enterprise will occur driven largely by population growth and economic development. How this growing demand for energy is met poses one of the most complex and challenging issues of our time. The current national energy dialogue reflects the challenge in simultaneously considering the social, political, economic, and technical issues as the energy system is defined, technical targets are established, and programs and investments are implemented to meet those technical targets. This paper examines the general concepts and options for meeting this challenge.

This document contains the conference proceedings of the Women in Engineering Conference: Capitalizing on Today`s Challenges, held June 1-4, 1996 in Denver, Colorado. Topics included engineering and science education, career paths, workplace issues, and affirmative action.

The influences of ethanol and iso-butanol blended with gasoline on engine-out and post Three-Way Catalyst (TWC) particle size distribution and number concentration were studied using a GM 2.0L turbocharged Spark Ignition Direct Injection (SIDI) engine. The engine was operated using the production ECU with a dynamometer controlling the engine speed and the accelerator pedal position controlling the engine load. A TSI Fast Mobility Particle Sizer (FMPS) spectrometer was used to measure the particle size distribution in the range from 5.6 to 560 nm with a sampling rate of 1 Hz. US federal certification gasoline (E0), two ethanol-blended fuels (E10 and E20), and 11.7% iso-butanol blended fuel (BU12) were tested. Measurements were conducted at ten selected steady-state engine operation conditions. Bi-modal particle size distributions were observed for all operating conditions with peak values at particle sizes of 10 nm and 70 nm. Idle and low speed / low load conditions emitted higher total particle numbers than other operating conditions. At idle, the engine-out Particulate Matter (PM) emissions were dominated by nucleation mode particles, and the production TWC reduced these nucleation mode particles by more than 50%, while leaving the accumulation mode particle distribution unchanged. At engine load higher than 6 bar NMEP, accumulation mode particles dominated the engine-out particle emissions and the TWC had little effect. Compared to the baseline gasoline (E0), E10 does not significantly change PM emissions, while E20 and BU12 both reduce PM emissions under the conditions studied. Iso-butanol was observed to impact PM emissions more than ethanol, with up to 50% reductions at some conditions. In this paper, the issues related to PM measurement using FMPS are also discussed. While some uncertainties are due to engine variation, the FMPS must be operated under careful maintenance procedures in order to achieve repeatable measurement results.

As chemical engineering processes and operations are closely involved in many areas of nuclear industry, the chemical engineer has a vital role to play in its growth and development. An account of the major achievements of the Indian chemical engineers in this field is given with view of impressing upon the faculty members of the Indian universities the need for taking appropriate steps to prepare chemical engineers suitable for nuclear industry. Some of the major achievements of the Indian chemical engineers in this field are : (1) separation of useful minerals from beach sand, (2) preparation of thorium nitrate of nuclear purity from monazite, (3) processing of zircon sand to obtain nuclear grade zirconium and its separation from hafnium to obtain zirconium metal sponge, (4) recovery of uranium from copper tailings, (5) economic recovery of nuclear grade uranium from low grade uranium ores found in India, (6) fuel reprocessing, (7) chemical processing of both low and high level radioactive wastes. (M.G.B.)

The first step in identifying proteins from mass spectrometry based shotgun proteomics data is to infer peptides from tandem mass spectra, a task generally achieved using database search engines. In this chapter, the basic principles of database search engines are introduced with a focus on open source software, and the use of database search engines is demonstrated using the freely available SearchGUI interface. This chapter also discusses how to tackle general issues related to sequence database searching and shows how to minimize their impact.

Covering a progressive medical field, Tissue Engineering describes the innovative process of regenerating human cells to restore or establish normal function in defective organs. As pioneering individuals look ahead to the possibility of generating entire organ systems, students may turn to this textbook for a comprehensive understanding and preparation for the future of regenerative medicine. This book explains chemical stimulations, the bioengineering of specific organs, and treatment plans for chronic diseases. It is a must-read for tissue engineering students and practitioners.

Software models that use design-level input variables and physics-based engineering analysis for estimating the mass and geometrical properties of components in large-scale machinery can be very useful for analyzing design trade-offs in complex systems. This study uses DriveSE, an OpenMDAO-based drivetrain model that uses stress and deflection criteria to size drivetrain components within a geared, upwind wind turbine. Because a full lifetime fatigue load spectrum can only be defined using computationally-expensive simulations in programs such as FAST, a parameterized fatigue loads spectrum that depends on wind conditions, rotor diameter, and turbine design life has been implemented. The parameterized fatigue spectrum is only used in this paper to demonstrate the proposed fatigue analysis approach. This paper details a three-part investigation of the parameterized approach and a comparison of the DriveSE model with and without fatigue analysis on the main shaft system. It compares loads from three turbines of varying size and determines if and when fatigue governs drivetrain sizing compared to extreme load-driven design. It also investigates the model's sensitivity to shaft material parameters. The intent of this paper is to demonstrate how fatigue considerations in addition to extreme loads can be brought into a system engineering optimization.

The civil engineer can help to solve the problems in disposing of nuclear waste in a deep geologic formation. The site for a nuclear waste repository must be carefully selected so that the geology provides the natural barrier between the waste and the accessible environment specified by the NRC and the EPA. This engineer is familiar with the needed structure and conditions of the host and surrounding rocks, and also the hydraulic mechanisms for limiting the migration of water in the rocks. To dispose of the nuclear waste underground requires stable and long-lasting shafts and tunnels such as civil engineers have designed and constructed for many other uses. The planning, design and construction of the ground surface facilities for a nuclear waste repository involves civil engineering in many ways. The transporation of heavy, metal shielded casks requires special attention to the system of highways and railroads accessing the repository. Structures for handling the shipping casks and transferring the waste onsite and into the deep geologic formation need special considerations. The structures must provide the NRC required containment, including hot cells for remote handling. Therefore, structural design strives for buildings, ventilation structures, shaft headframes, etc., to be earthquake and tornado-proof. These important design bases and considerations for the civil engineer working on a nuclear waste repository are discussed in this paper

Today, elementary school teachers continue to revisit old lessons and seek out new ones, especially in engineering. Optimization is the process by which an existing product or procedure is revised and refined. Drawn from the authors' experiences working directly with students in grades K-5 and their teachers and preservice teachers, the…

This paper presents the development of FAST.Farm, a new multiphysics tool applicable to engineering problems in research and industry involving wind farm performance and cost optimization that is needed to address the current underperformance, failures, and expenses plaguing the wind industry. Achieving wind cost-of-energy targets - which requires improvements in wind farm performance and reliability, together with reduced uncertainty and expenditures - has been eluded by the complicated nature of the wind farm design problem, especially the sophisticated interaction between atmospheric phenomena and wake dynamics and array effects. FAST.Farm aims to balance the need for accurate modeling of the relevant physics for predicting power performance and loads while maintaining low computational cost to support a highly iterative and probabilistic design process and system-wide optimization. FAST.Farm makes use of FAST to model the aero-hydro-servo-elastics of distinct turbines in the wind farm, and it is based on some of the principles of the Dynamic Wake Meandering (DWM) model, but avoids many of the limitations of existing DWM implementations.

Global software engineering education (GSEE) is aimed at providing software engineering (SE) students with knowledge, skills, and understanding of working in globally distributed arrangements so they can be prepared for the global SE (GSE) paradigm. It is important to understand the challenges involved in GSEE for improving the quality and…

This is a position paper in the field of Engineering Education, which is at the very beginning in Europe. It relates challenges in the new field to the emerging technology of (Computer) Theorem Proving (TP). Experience shows, that "teaching" abstract models, for instance the wave equation in mechanical engineering and in electrical…

Changes experienced in recent times focus their attention on new and multiple challenges that must be assumed by the English teacher, in the engineering context, which becomes a challenge against the demands by the current world from the English teacher in Colombia. This situation needs to be analyzed and studied. This article addresses the…

This book presents papers by experts in the field of Industrial Engineering, covering topics in business strategy; modelling and simulation in operations research; logistics and production; service systems; innovation and knowledge; and project management. The focus of operations and production management has evolved from product and manufacturing to the capabilities of firms and collaborative management. Nowadays, Industrial Engineering is concerned with the study of how to design, modify, control and improve the performance of complex systems. It has extended its scope to any physical landscape populated by social agents. This raises a major challenge to Industrial Engineering: managing complexity. This volume shows how experts are dealing with this challenge.

This is the preprint version of our paper on Advances in Engineering Software. With several characteristics, such as large scale, diverse predictability and timeliness, the city traffic data falls in the range of definition of Big Data. A Virtual Reality GIS based traffic analysis and visualization system is proposed as a promising and inspiring approach to manage and develop traffic big data. In addition to the basic GIS interaction functions, the proposed system also includes some intellige...

Despite calls to address global challenges through community engagement, engineers are not formally prepared to engage with communities. Little research has been done on means to address this 'engagement gap' in engineering education. We examine the efficacy of an intensive, two-day Community Engagement Workshop for engineers, designed to help engineers better look beyond technology, listen to and learn from people, and empower communities. We assessed the efficacy of the workshop in a non-experimental pre-post design using a questionnaire and a concept map. Questionnaire results indicate participants came away better able to ask questions more broadly inclusive of non-technological dimensions of engineering projects. Concept map results indicate participants have a greater understanding of ways social factors shape complex material systems after completing the programme. Based on the workshop's strengths and weaknesses, we discuss the potential of expanding and supplementing the programme to help engineers account for social aspects central to engineered systems.

In this paper, we describe our experience with the challenges thar we are currently facing in our effort to develop advanced software verification and validation tools. We categorize these challenges into several areas: cost benefits modeling, tool usability, customer application domain, and organizational issues. We provide examples of challenges in each area and identrfj, open research issues in areas which limit our ability to transfer high-assurance software engineering tools into practice.

A selection of Food Engineering research including food structure engineering, novel emulsification processes, liquid and dry fractionation, Food Engineeringchallenges and research with comments on European Food Engineering education is covered. Food structure engineering is discussed by using

Synthetic biology provides numerous great opportunities for chemical engineers in the development of new processes for large-scale production of biofuels, value-added chemicals, and protein therapeutics. However, challenges across all scales abound. In particular, the modularization and standardization of the components in a biological system, so-called biological parts, remain the biggest obstacle in synthetic biology. In this perspective, we will discuss the main challenges and opportunities in the rapidly growing synthetic biology field and the important roles that chemical engineers can play in its advancement.

High-End Computing (HEC) has had significant impact on aerospace design and engineering and is poised to make even more in the future. In this paper we describe four aerospace design and engineeringchallenges: Digital Flight, Launch Simulation, Rocket Fuel System and Digital Astronaut. The paper discusses modeling capabilities needed for each challenge and presents projections of future near and far-term HEC computing requirements. NASA's HEC Project Columbia is described and programming strategies presented that are necessary to achieve high real performance.

Synthetic biology provides numerous great opportunities for chemical engineers in the development of new processes for large-scale production of biofuels, value-added chemicals, and protein therapeutics. However, challenges across all scales abound. In particular, the modularization and standardization of the components in a biological system, so-called biological parts, remain the biggest obstacle in synthetic biology. In this perspective, we will discuss the main challenges and opportunities in the rapidly growing synthetic biology field and the important roles that chemical engineers can play in its advancement. PMID:24222925

The main goal of this research is to gain an understanding of the challenges which have to be confronted by the engineering students at the College of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University. The college has a large number of students, of which three hundred and eighty five were selected on a random basis for study purposes. The results…

The purpose of this article is to give a concise review of the current state of the art in tissue engineering (TE) of skeletal muscle and the opportunities and challenges for future clinical applicability. The endogenous progenitor cells of skeletal muscle, i.e. satellite cells, show a high

The principles, difficulties and challenges in control education are discussed and compared to the similar problems in the teaching of mathematics and systems science in general. The difficulties of today's students to appreciate the classical teaching of engineering disciplines, which are based on rigorous and scientifically sound grounds, are…

As an alternative fuel, natural gas is generally accepted for internal combustion engines and some developments have been conducted in order to adopt it for the road vehicles and stationary applications. Foresights shows natural gas vehicles will be a part of the future transportation technology regarding to their mid and long-term benefits. Therefore inherent problems of natural gas engine technology should be overcome to produce a competitive engine. In this paper major problems and their possible solutions in developing and producing natural gas engine for passenger cars are detailed and discussed. Challenging materials are sorted and presented in two categorizes: technical and econo-strategical problems. In the technical section major difficulties faced in components or systems of natural gas engine are analysed in different aspects of design, validation, and production. In addition problems arisen from the fuel characteristics which influence the function and durability of engine are argued. Subjects like freezing in gas regulator, cold start fuel injection, gas leakage, impurities within compressed natural gas, variation in fuel composition, thermo-mechanics of cylinder head and block, wear of valve seat inserts, spark plug erosion, back-fire phenomenon, engine oil quality requirement, low power density and mileage are described. In the econo-strategical discussion, challenges like limited gas distribution infrastructure, lack of specific manufacturing standards and codes, and non-dedicated emission standards are explained. In both part of the paper a comprehensive view is extended to clarify the effect, risk and solutions of each problem. Due to the fact that almost all information and analysis presented in this paper are based on the experience of developing a natural gas engine family, and an extensive literature review, discussions and conclusions could be useful as a guide line for future natural gas engine projects. (orig.)

The Blockchain technology is reshaping finance, economy, money to the extent that its disruptive power is compared to that of the Internet and the Web in their early days. As a result, all the software development revolving around the Blockchain technology is growing at a staggering rate. In this paper, we acknowledge the need for software engineers to devise specialized tools and techniques for blockchain-oriented software development. From current challenges concerning the definition of new...

We describe a microcomputer database used by the high energy group to keep track of preprints in our collection. It is used as a supplement to the SLAC-SPIRES database to retrieve preprints on hand. This was designed as a low overhead system for a small group

The principles of engineering and physics have been applied to oncology for nearly 50 years. Engineers and physical scientists have made contributions to all aspects of cancer biology, from quantitative understanding of tumour growth and progression to improved detection and treatment of cancer. Many early efforts focused on experimental and computational modelling of drug distribution, cell cycle kinetics and tumour growth dynamics. In the past decade, we have witnessed exponential growth at the interface of engineering, physics and oncology that has been fuelled by advances in fields including materials science, microfabrication, nanomedicine, microfluidics, imaging, and catalysed by new programmes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), Physical Sciences in Oncology, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Alliance for Nanotechnology. Here, we review the advances made at the interface of engineering and physical sciences and oncology in four important areas: the physical microenvironment of the tumour and technological advances in drug delivery; cellular and molecular imaging; and microfluidics and microfabrication. We discussthe research advances, opportunities and challenges for integrating engineering and physical sciences with oncology to develop new methods to study, detect and treat cancer, and we also describe the future outlook for these emerging areas.

The chemical and energy industries are transforming as they adjust to the new era of high-priced petroleum and severe global warming. As a result of the transformation, engineeringchallenges and investment opportunities abound. Rapid evolution and fast growth are expected in cathode and anode materials as well as polymeric electrolytes for vehicular batteries and in high-performance polymer-ceramic composites for wind turbines, fuel-efficient aircraft, and lighter and safer cars. Unique process-engineering opportunities exist in sand-oil, coal, and possibly also shale liquefaction to produce transportation fuel; and also in genetic engineering of photosynthesizing plants and other organisms for their processing into high-performance biodegradable polymers and high-value-added environmentally friendly chemicals. Also, research on the feasibility of mitigation of global warming through enhancement of CO(2) uptake by the southern oceans by fertilization with trace amounts of iron is progressing. Because chemical engineers are uniquely well trained in mathematical modeling of mass transport, flow, and mixing, and also in cost analysis, they are likely to join the oceanographers and marine biologists in this important endeavor.

Full Text Available The ‘Energy’ thematic area has grown into an extremely challenging topic lately, due to its impact on economic, social, technical, environmental and even political levels. This large field involves the pawns of the scientific research - the most important generator of knowledge and education - one of the main beneficiaries of research findings. Consequently the power engineering education becomes a significant pillar with direct outcome in the general as well as specific competences that future graduates acquire. This paperwork aims to discourse on and highlight the methods of implementation and promotion of new topics and modern educational forms-energy software, within study programmes. This is of course a permanent process and reflects our efforts and interest in the improvement of power engineering educational quality.

Current food production faces tremendous challenges from growing human population, maintaining clean resources and food qualities, and protecting climate and environment. Food sustainability is mostly a cooperative effort resulting in technology development supported by both governments and enterprises. Multiple attempts have been promoted in tackling challenges and enhancing drivers in food production. Biosensors and biosensing technologies with their applications, are being widely applied to tackling top challenges in food production and its sustainability. Consequently, a growing demand in biosensing technologies exists in food sustainability. Microfluidics represents a technological system integrating multiple technologies. Nanomaterials, with its technology in biosensing, is thought to be the most promising tool in dealing with health, energy, and environmental issues closely related to world populations. The demand of point of care (POC) technologies in this area focus on rapid, simple, accurate, portable, and low-cost analytical instruments. This review provides current viewpoints from the literature on biosensing in food production, food processing, safety and security, food packaging and supply chain, food waste processing, food quality assurance, and food engineering. The current understanding of progress, solution, and future challenges, as well as the commercialization of biosensors are summarized. PMID:29534552

Current food production faces tremendous challenges from growing human population, maintaining clean resources and food qualities, and protecting climate and environment. Food sustainability is mostly a cooperative effort resulting in technology development supported by both governments and enterprises. Multiple attempts have been promoted in tackling challenges and enhancing drivers in food production. Biosensors and biosensing technologies with their applications, are being widely applied to tackling top challenges in food production and its sustainability. Consequently, a growing demand in biosensing technologies exists in food sustainability. Microfluidics represents a technological system integrating multiple technologies. Nanomaterials, with its technology in biosensing, is thought to be the most promising tool in dealing with health, energy, and environmental issues closely related to world populations. The demand of point of care (POC) technologies in this area focus on rapid, simple, accurate, portable, and low-cost analytical instruments. This review provides current viewpoints from the literature on biosensing in food production, food processing, safety and security, food packaging and supply chain, food waste processing, food quality assurance, and food engineering. The current understanding of progress, solution, and future challenges, as well as the commercialization of biosensors are summarized.

The debate surrounding preprints is increasing. Preprint proponents claim that preprints are a way to shore up trust in academic publishing, that they provide an additional 'quality' screen prior to traditional peer review, that they can assist with the replication crisis plaguing science in part by making negative or contradictory results public, and that they speed up the publishing process because fundamental results can be presented early, serving as timely reports for the purposes of tenure or grant funding. Preprint skeptics and critics claim that preprints may represent a risk and a danger to quality-based academic publishing because they are documents that have not been carefully and thoroughly vetted prior to their release into the public domain. Thus, academics who cite invalid, poorly vetted, or false facts could cause harm, not unlike the unscholarly 'predatory' open access movement. Feedback on work from lesser-known groups, or on less glamorous topics, may be null or worse than from traditional peer review, annulling an initial key objective of preprints. Although there is no widespread empirical evidence or data yet regarding some of these issues, academics should be aware of the ideological, financial, and political tug-of-war taking place before deciding if they wish to publish their important findings as a preprint prior or simultaneous to submitting to a regular journal for peer review.

Beginning in 2006, NASA initiated the J-2X engine development effort to develop an upper stage propulsion system to enable the achievement of the primary objectives of the Constellation program (CxP): provide continued access to the International Space Station following the retirement of the Space Station and return humans to the moon. The J-2X system requirements identified to accomplish this were very challenging and the time expended over the five years following the beginning of the J- 2X effort have been noteworthy in the development of innovations in both the fields for liquid rocket propulsion and system engineering.

This is a comprehensive compilation of 66 papers made public in the Fall 1997 JSAE Meeting, including the following by field: 13 papers on engine combustion; 4 on analysis of chassis structure; 12 on travel of vehicles; 6 on improvement of exhaust gas from diesel engines; 9 on basic study of combustion characteristics using fuels such as methanol, natural gas and hydrogen; 3 on study of heat flux on the piston face of internal engines; others on processing technology, noise, etc. Among these, the following were paid attention to as studies aiming at reducing NOx and smoke of diesel engines for pollution prevention: Emission and combustion characteristics of multiple stage diesel combustion, and Study on homogeneous charge diesel combustion engine. As studies on the use of petroleum substituting fuels, Visualizing ignition and combustion of methanol mixtures in a diesel engine, Improving performance and emissions in a diesel engine dual-fueled with natural gas, and Fundamental combustion characteristics of lean hydrogen mixtures

The recent commemoration of the centennial of the San Francisco and Valparaiso 1906 earthquakes has given the opportunity to reanalyze their damages from modern earthquake engineering perspective. These two earthquakes plus Messina Reggio Calabria 1908 had a strong impact in the birth and developing of earthquake engineering. The study of the seismic performance of some up today existing buildings, that survive centennial earthquakes, represent a challenge to better understand the limitations of our in use earthquake design methods. Only Valparaiso 1906 earthquake, of the three considered centennial earthquakes, has been repeated again as the Central Chile, 1985, Ms = 7.8 earthquake. In this paper a comparative study of the damage produced by 1906 and 1985 Valparaiso earthquakes is done in the neighborhood of Valparaiso harbor. In this study the only three centennial buildings of 3 stories that survived both earthquakes almost undamaged were identified. Since for 1985 earthquake accelerogram at El Almendral soil conditions as well as in rock were recoded, the vulnerability analysis of these building is done considering instrumental measurements of the demand. The study concludes that good performance of these buildings in the epicentral zone of large earthquakes can not be well explained by modern earthquake engineering methods. Therefore, it is recommended to use in the future of more suitable instrumental parameters, such as the destructiveness potential factor, to describe earthquake demand

In past decades, curricula for the education of nuclear engineers (either as a major or minor subject) have been well established all over the world. However, from the point of view of a nuclear supplier, recent experiences in large and complex new build as well as modernization projects have shown that important competences required in these projects were not addressed during the education of young graduates. Consequently, in the past nuclear industry has been obliged to either accept long periods for job familiarization, or to develop and implement various dedicated internal training measures. Although the topics normally addressed in nuclear engineering education (like neutron and reactor physics, nuclear materials or thermohydraulics and the associated calculation methods) build up important competences, this paper shows that the current status of nuclear applications requires adaptations of educational curricula. As a conclusion, when academic nuclear engineering curricula start taking into account current competence needs in nuclear industry, it will be for the benefit of the current and future generation of nuclear engineers. They will be better prepared for their future job positions and career perspectives, especially on an international level. The recommendations presented should not only be of importance for the nuclear fission field, but also for the fusion community. Here, the Horizon 2020 Roadmap to Fusion as published in 2012 now is focusing on ITER and on a longer-term development of fusion technology for a future demonstration reactor DEMO. The very challenging work program is leading to a strong need for exactly those skills that are described in this article.

In past decades, curricula for the education of nuclear engineers (either as a major or minor subject) have been well established all over the world. However, from the point of view of a nuclear supplier, recent experiences in large and complex new build as well as modernization projects have shown that important competences required in these projects were not addressed during the education of young graduates. Consequently, in the past nuclear industry has been obliged to either accept long periods for job familiarization, or to develop and implement various dedicated internal training measures. Although the topics normally addressed in nuclear engineering education (like neutron and reactor physics, nuclear materials or thermohydraulics and the associated calculation methods) build up important competences, this paper shows that the current status of nuclear applications requires adaptations of educational curricula. As a conclusion, when academic nuclear engineering curricula start taking into account current competence needs in nuclear industry, it will be for the benefit of the current and future generation of nuclear engineers. They will be better prepared for their future job positions and career perspectives, especially on an international level. The recommendations presented should not only be of importance for the nuclear fission field, but also for the fusion community. Here, the Horizon 2020 Roadmap to Fusion as published in 2012 now is focusing on ITER and on a longer-term development of fusion technology for a future demonstration reactor DEMO. The very challenging work program is leading to a strong need for exactly those skills that are described in this article.

The Fall 1997 JSAE Meeting Science Lecture was held in Hiroshima on October 21-23, 1997. This report summarized 90 out of the total 244 lectures. As for reports on gasoline engines, the following were included: Effects of fuel and air mixing on WOT output in direct injection gasoline engine, Mixture formation of direct gasoline injection engine, etc. As to sensors, Study of a fuel injection quantity sensor in diesel engine, Development of air fuel ratio sensor, etc. Concerning automotive parts, Prediction and optimization of friction characteristics of brake pads, The new conceptual copper alloy bearing for diesel engine to achieve longer life under higher load, A study of improvement in 1st ring`s gas-seal, etc. In relation to driving, accidents, etc., Effects of cellular telephone manipulation on driver`s performance, Study on traffic accidents mechanism with automatic recording systems, etc

Urethral stricture disease is increasingly common occurring in about 1% of males over the age of 55. The stricture tissue is rich in myofibroblasts and multi-nucleated giant cells which are thought to be related to stricture formation and collagen synthesis. An increase in collagen is associated with the loss of the normal vasculature of the normal urethra. The actual incidence differs based on worldwide populations, geography, and income. The stricture aetiology, location, length and patient's age and comorbidity are important in deciding the course of treatment. In this review we aim to summarise the existing knowledge of the aetiology of urethral strictures, review current treatment regimens, and present the challenges of using tissue-engineered buccal mucosa (TEBM) to repair scarring of the urethra. In asking this question we are also mindful that recurrent fibrosis occurs in other tissues-how can we learn from these other pathologies?

The first phase of the heavy ion physics program at the LHC aims to provide lead-lead collisions at energies of 5.5 TeV per colliding nucleon pair and ion-ion luminosity of 1027 cm-2s-1. The transformation of CERN’s ion injector complex (Linac3-LEIR-PS-SPS) presents a number of beam physics and engineeringchallenges, which are described in this paper. In the LHC itself, there are fundamental performance limitations due to various beam loss mechanisms. To study these without risk of damage there will be an initial period of operation with a reduced number of nominal intensity bunches. While reducing the work required to commission the LHC with ions in 2008, this will still enable early physics discoveries.

A new set of manufacturing technologies has emerged in the past decades to address market requirements in a customized way and to provide support for research tasks that require prototypes. These new techniques and technologies are usually referred to as rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies, and they allow prototypes to be produced in a wide range of materials with remarkable precision in a couple of hours. Although they have been rapidly incorporated into product development methodologies, they are still under development, and their applications in bioengineering are continuously evolving. Rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies can be of assistance in every stage of the development process of novel biodevices, to address various problems that can arise in the devices' interactions with biological systems and the fact that the design decisions must be tested carefully. This review focuses on the main fields of application for rapid prototyping in biomedical engineering and health sciences, as well as on the most remarkable challenges and research trends.

Full Text Available The current scenario in renewable energy is focused on development of alternate and sustainable energy sources, amongst which microalgae stands as one of the promising feedstock for biofuel production. It is well known that microalgae generate much larger amounts of biofuels in a shorter time than other sources based on plant seeds. However, the greatest challenge in a transition to algae-based biofuel production is the various other complications involved in microalgal cultivation, its harvesting, concentration, drying and lipid extraction. Several green microalgae accumulate lipids, especially triacylglycerols (TAGs, which are main precursors in the production of lipid. The various aspects on metabolic pathway analysis of an oleaginous microalgae i.e. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have elucidated some novel metabolically important genes and this enhances the lipid production in this microalgae. Adding to it, various other aspects in metabolic engineering using OptFlux and effectual bioprocess design also gives an interactive snapshot of enhancing lipid production which ultimately improvises the oil yield. This article reviews the current status of microalgal based technologies for biofuel production, bioreactor process design, flux analysis and it also provides various strategies to increase lipids accumulation via metabolic engineering.

Full Text Available Urethral stricture disease is increasingly common occurring in about 1% of males over the age of 55. The stricture tissue is rich in myofibroblasts and multi-nucleated giant cells which are thought to be related to stricture formation and collagen synthesis. An increase in collagen is associated with the loss of the normal vasculature of the normal urethra. The actual incidence differs based on worldwide populations, geography, and income. The stricture aetiology, location, length and patient's age and comorbidity are important in deciding the course of treatment. In this review we aim to summarise the existing knowledge of the aetiology of urethral strictures, review current treatment regimens, and present the challenges of using tissue-engineered buccal mucosa (TEBM to repair scarring of the urethra. In asking this question we are also mindful that recurrent fibrosis occurs in other tissues—how can we learn from these other pathologies? Keywords: Urethral strictures, Fibrosis, Tissue-engineered buccal mucosa, Augmentation urethroplasty

The management of rivers for improving safety, shipping and environment requires conscious effort on the part of river managers. River engineers design hydraulic works to tackle various challenges, from increasing flow conveyance to ensuring minimal water depths for environmental flow and inland shipping. Last year saw the completion of such large scale river engineering in the 'Room for the River' programme for the Dutch Rhine River system, in which several dozen of human interventions were built to increase flood safety. Engineering works in rivers are not completed in isolation from society. Rather, their benefits - increased safety, landscaping beauty - and their disadvantages - expropriation, hindrance - directly affect inhabitants. Therefore river managers are required to carefully defend their plans. The effect of engineering works on river dynamics is being evaluated using hydraulic river models. Two-dimensional numerical models based on the shallow water equations provide the predictions necessary to make decisions on designs and future plans. However, like all environmental models, these predictions are subject to uncertainty. In recent years progress has been made in the identification of the main sources of uncertainty for hydraulic river models. Two of the most important sources are boundary conditions and hydraulic roughness (Warmink et al. 2013). The result of these sources of uncertainty is that the identification of single, deterministic prediction model is a non-trivial task. This is this is a well-understood problem in other fields as well - most notably hydrology - and known as equifinality. However, the particular case of human intervention modelling with hydraulic river models compounds the equifinality case. The model that provides the reference baseline situation is usually identified through calibration and afterwards modified for the engineering intervention. This results in two distinct models, the evaluation of which yields the effect of

The present conference considers computer-integrated manufacturing, the manufacture of bonded composite assemblies for aircraft, advancements in the condition monitoring of gears and rolling element bearings, condition monitoring of large commercial turbofan engines, novel gas turbine materials, and advanced fiber-reinforced composites for airframe applications. Also discussed are the future of air power in the defense of Australia, future procurement and operations of rotary wing aircraft in the Royal Australia Navy, the future balance between Australian aerospace-related education, research and industry, and the educational requirements for the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology aeronautical engineering degree.

The Engineering Risk Assessment (ERA) team at NASA Ames Research Center utilizes dynamic models with linked physics-of-failure analyses to produce quantitative risk assessments of space exploration missions. This paper applies the ERA approach to the baseline and extended versions of the PSAM Space Thruster Challenge Problem, which investigates mission risk for a deep space ion propulsion system with time-varying thruster requirements and operations schedules. The dynamic mission is modeled using a combination of discrete and continuous-time reliability elements within the commercially available GoldSim software. Loss-of-mission (LOM) probability results are generated via Monte Carlo sampling performed by the integrated model. Model convergence studies are presented to illustrate the sensitivity of integrated LOM results to the number of Monte Carlo trials. A deterministic risk model was also built for the three baseline and extended missions using the Ames Reliability Tool (ART), and results are compared to the simulation results to evaluate the relative importance of mission dynamics. The ART model did a reasonable job of matching the simulation models for the baseline case, while a hybrid approach using offline dynamic models was required for the extended missions. This study highlighted that state-of-the-art techniques can adequately adapt to a range of dynamic problems.

The JSAE 1996 Fall Meeting was held in Sapporo during October 22-24, and 232 papers were reported. As for the lubricating oil, the papers with the following titles were made public: Influence of engine oil viscosity and friction modifiers on coefficients of friction; Study on diesel fuel lubricity; Effect of diesel fuel components on lubricity; etc. As to the driving sensation, reported were: Study of incidence factor of car sickness and the evaluation of a passenger`s feeling and his physiological responses; A study on evaluation of drowsiness; Experimental study on vigilance decline during a monotonous-driving simulation task; etc. In the computer soft relation, Development of ECU data acquisition and analysis support system; Development of software engineering system for automotive control system; etc. In addition, a lot of papers were read including the following: A study on the heat transfer performance improvement of condenser for automotive air conditioning system; A study for preventing corrosion for tube of aluminum oil coolers; A study of engine cooling fan.

The library at the INS (Institute for Nuclear Study) receives several tens of preprints a week from foreign and domestic laboratories and universities. These preprints are pigeonholed by making a catalog card index carried a title, authors, an accession number, classification of fields, etc. A newly arrived preprint lists is also served every week. The cataloging and weekly lists publishing works were handled with a typewriter. And then, it was very difficult and tedious to correct/check/file the index cards and to correct/check the weekly preprint lists. To make a preprint data efficiently by a computer and to refer this data base by on-line without using a index card, the INSPREP system is constructed. The INSPREP system consists of two parts. One is named a PREPINS, and is used to make a preprint data, builds a preprint data base, and publishes a weekly preprint lists. The other, called a PREP, performs an on-line retrieval for this data base. The preprint data base consists of following items such as an author, a title, an accession number, a report number, a classification field, etc. The PREPINS can be used by limited persons for security. User can search a preprint by inputting above mentioned items. The PREP adopts a menu method. Then, user can perform an on-line retrieval very easily. (author)

This study contextualized the use of the engineering design process by providing descriptions of how each element in a design process was integrated in an eleventh grade industry and engineering systems course. The guiding research question for this inquiry was: How do students engage in the engineering design process in a course where technology…

The JSAE 1996 Fall Meeting was held in Sapporo during October 22-24, and 232 papers were reported. As for the vehicle safety in collision, a lot of papers were made public including the ones having the following titles: Study on vehicle body structure at frontal collision; Study on the load-stress simulation method for vehicle structure; High strain rate deformation behavior of steel sheet for automotive anti-collision parts; Optimization of the crush characteristic of door inner material for occupant injury in side impact. As to the measurement relation, the following were reported: Development of three-dimensional dynamic clearance and interference evaluation method for engine with video measurement; Proposal for a new laboratory automation standard IMACS96; Small gas samples analyzed for NOx by electron capture detector; Mechanism analysis of shock absorber rattling noise; etc. With relation to the catalytic system, reported were Study on electrically heated catalyst (EHC) system; Development of NOx removal catalysts for lean-burn gasoline engines; Study on the applicability of three-way catalyst system to medium/heavy duty gasoline trucks; etc.

Identifies the growing importance of electronic preprints in the published literature of physics and astronomy and address several areas of concern regarding the future role of electronic preprints in scientific communication. Topics include a history of preprints in astronomy and physics; inaccuracies in preprint citations; and archival issues.…

The transition from university to a career in engineering is a challenging process. This study examined the perceptions of engineering graduates regarding the difficulties they encountered in their transition from the university to the workplace. Lebanese practising engineers (n=217), living around the world, were surveyed to identify their current employment situations and their attitudes toward their academic preparation. Factor analysis revealed three main challenges facing engineering graduates: communication; responsibility; self-confidence. Seventeen interviews were conducted to gather information on ways to facilitate this transition. Comments reflected the need for better collaboration between engineering schools and engineering firms. The results will provide insight for engineering colleges, faculty members and administrators into the challenges faced by graduates and their aspirations for a smoother transition into employment.

International audience; Engineering plays a key role in supporting the growth and development of a country's economy as well as in improving the quality of life for citizens. Most of developed countries witnessed economic growth with the contribution of women in engineering field. In developing countries like India women remained under-utilized resource. Women in engineering are probably the single best investment that can be made in the developing world. There is clearly room for improvement...

All aspects of biomedical engineering and science, from research and development, education and training, implementation in health care systems, internationalisation and globalisation, and other, new issues are present in the strategy and in action plans of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) which, with help of a large number of highly motivated volunteers, will stay in leading position in biomedical engineering and science.

The compression ratio strongly affects the working process and provides an exceptional degree of control over engine performance. In conventional internal combustion engines, the compression ratio is fixed and their performance is therefore a compromise between conflicting requirements. One fundamental problem is that drive units in the vehicles must successfully operate at variable speeds and loads and in different ambient conditions. If a diesel engine has a fixed compression ratio, a minim...

All aspects of biomedical engineering and science, from research and development, education and training, implementation in health care systems, internationalisation and globalisation, and other, new issues are present in the strategy and in action plans of the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) which, with help of a large number of highly motivated volunteers, will stay in leading position in biomedical engineering and science

Today, more than 100 universities and polytechnic schools in Europe offer educational programs in Biomedical Engineering at all academic levels, but without any international coordination of contents...

This article examines the growth of engineering education in India in the post-economic reform period using the secondary data published by Ministry of Human Resource Development, University Grants Commission and All India Council for Technical Education. Particularly, this article has focused on three important dimensions of engineering and…

Full Text Available The industrial engineering discipline in South Africa is examined by introducing the context of the discipline and by revisiting its history. The drivers influencing the context and future of industrial engineering in South Africa are also considered, and the discipline is analysed in terms of the following aspects: university qualifications, employment in industry sectors, race and gender profiles, use and competence in industry, and income profiles. The analysis is based on a recent survey sent to practising industrial engineers, on membership data from the Southern African Institute for Industrial Engineering (SAIIE, and on two internal SAIIE investigations. The study concludes that the success of transformation, particularly in terms of race, has been limited. The results also indicate that there are an almost equal number of black and white industrial engineers, yet the majority of black industrial engineers have technical qualifications, while the majority of white industrial engineers have academic qualifications. The results indicate that this limits the use of black industrial engineers in industry and, consequently, the success of their careers. This in turn means that there are fewer black role models to attract young black students to the discipline. Some preliminary opportunities to unlock the increased transformation of the profession are identified.

Engineering is being currently taught in the full spectrum of the P-12 system, with an emphasis on design-oriented teaching (Brophy, Klein, Portsmore, & Rogers, 2008). Due to only a small amount of research on the learning of engineering design in elementary and middle school settings, the community of practice lacks the necessary knowledge of the…

This descriptive study examined the current status of technology education teacher practices with respect to engineering design. This article is the third article in a three-part series presenting the results of this study. The first article in the series titled "Examination of Engineering Design Curriculum Content" highlighted the research…

The goal of increasing crop productivity and nutrient-use efficiency is being addressed by a number of ambitious research projects seeking to re-engineer photosynthetic biochemistry. Many of these projects will require the engineering of substantial changes in fluxes of central metabolism. However......, as has been amply demonstrated in simpler systems such as microbes, central metabolism is extremely difficult to rationally engineer. This is because of multiple layers of regulation that operate to maintain metabolic steady state and because of the highly connected nature of central metabolism....... In this review we discuss new approaches for metabolic engineering that have the potential to address these problems and dramatically improve the success with which we can rationally engineer central metabolism in plants. In particular, we advocate the adoption of an iterative ‘design-build-test-learn’ cycle...

After more than fifty years of space activities, the near-Earth environment is polluted with man-made orbital debris. The collision between Cosmos 2251 and the operational Iridium 33 in 2009 signaled a potential collision cascade effect, also known as the "Kessler Syndrome", in the environment. Various modelling studies have suggested that the commonly-adopted mitigation measures will not be sufficient to stabilize the future debris population. Active debris removal must be considered to remediate the environment. This paper summarizes the key issues associated with debris removal and describes the technology and engineeringchallenges to move forward. Fifty-four years after the launch of Sputnik 1, satellites have become an integral part of human society. Unfortunately, the ongoing space activities have left behind an undesirable byproduct orbital debris. This environment problem is threatening the current and future space activities. On average, two Shuttle window panels are replaced after every mission due to damage by micrometeoroid or orbital debris impacts. More than 100 collision avoidance maneuvers were conducted by satellite operators in 2010 to reduce the impact risks of their satellites with respect to objects in the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN) catalog. Of the four known accident collisions between objects in the SSN catalog, the last one, collision between Cosmos 2251 and the operational Iridium 33 in 2009, was the most significant. It was the first ever accidental catastrophic destruction of an operational satellite by another satellite. It also signaled the potential collision cascade effect in the environment, commonly known as the "Kessler Syndrome," predicted by Kessler and Cour-Palais in 1978 [1]. Figure 1 shows the historical increase of objects in the SSN catalog. The majority of the catalog objects are 10 cm and larger. As of April 2011, the total objects tracked by the SSN sensors were more than 22,000. However, approximately 6000 of

Data structure and software engineering is an integral part of computer science. This volume presents new approaches and methods to knowledge sharing, brain mapping, data integration, and data storage. The author describes how to manage an organization's business process and domain data and presents new software and hardware testing methods. The book introduces a game development framework used as a learning aid in a software engineering at the university level. It also features a review of social software engineering metrics and methods for processing business information. It explains how to

Plant agriculture is poised at a technological inflection point. Recent advances in genome engineering make it possible to precisely alter DNA sequences in living cells, providing unprecedented control over a plant's genetic material. Potential future crops derived through genome engineering include those that better withstand pests, that have enhanced nutritional value, and that are able to grow on marginal lands. In many instances, crops with such traits will be created by altering only a few nucleotides among the billions that comprise plant genomes. As such, and with the appropriate regulatory structures in place, crops created through genome engineering might prove to be more acceptable to the public than plants that carry foreign DNA in their genomes. Public perception and the performance of the engineered crop varieties will determine the extent to which this powerful technology contributes towards securing the world's food supply.

Full Text Available The compression ratio strongly affects the working process and provides an exceptional degree of control over engine performance. In conventional internal combustion engines, the compression ratio is fixed and their performance is therefore a compromise between conflicting requirements. One fundamental problem is that drive units in the vehicles must successfully operate at variable speeds and loads and in different ambient conditions. If a diesel engine has a fixed compression ratio, a minimal value must be chosen that can achieve a reliable self-ignition when starting the engine in cold start conditions. In diesel engines, variable compression ratio provides control of peak cylinder pressure, improves cold start ability and low load operation, enabling the multi-fuel capability, increase of fuel economy and reduction of emissions. This paper contains both theoretical and experimental investigation of the impact that automatic variable compression ratios has on working process parameters in experimental diesel engine. Alternative methods of implementing variable compression ratio are illustrated and critically examined.

Full Text Available Engineering has a long historical tradition; it began as a discipline in the sixteenth century and reached maturity during the twentieth century. However, the twenty-first century’s features strongly differentiate it from earlier times; when referring to this period, we speak of globalisation, knowledge society and national innovation systems. This is a period marked by contradictions. Technological developments and social and political changes have improved human beings’ quality of life. New technologies have provided the context for its opening decade: nanotechnology, microelectronics and nanoelectronics, photonics, materials science, biotechnology, information and communications technology, logistics, medical engineering and renewable and clean energy. Technologies feed each other and off each other, offering endless possibilities for development. This is a time where the doors of political democratisation, art and culture have opened; however, it is also a world facing political, financial and environmental crisis. Colombia, particularly, is a country encountering problems regarding its competitiveness, having crippling levels of corruption and impunity, problems related to education, health and infrastructure. Colombia needs more engineers who can contribute towards resolving complex problems. Such engineers must have had excellent technical and humanistic training; they must be creative, able to work as a team, have become leaders who can listen and communicate and help develop a world to ensure that humans and other living species on earth can flourish with a uniform, durable level regarding their quality of life. Work must thus be done on critical engineering education and the present work presents some characteristics concerning what these engineers training/education should be.

Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, Executive Office of the President — This report details the challenges and opportunities discussed at the NITRD sponsored multi-agency workshop on Computational Science and Engineering Software...

This study investigates the status of women engineers in the Middle East, considering women engineers in Lebanon as a case study. The author investigated the following questions: What are the influences behind females' decisions to choose engineering as their major course of study? What are the motives behind this decision? What are the perceptions of females regarding the essential skills for a successful engineering career? An online survey consisting of Likert-scale items was completed by 327 female engineers who graduated from universities in Lebanon and now work in various locations around the world. A genuine interest in the field appeared to be the main influence in the participants' decisions to choose engineering profession. The potential for professional growth was the leading motivator for choosing engineering. Although participants reported that they possessed adequate theoretical knowledge and technical skills before graduation, in the actual practice of engineering, they noted weaknesses in creativity and innovation.

Ageing is an inherent feature of nature and, hence, of materials, structures and systems. Yet, it seems a rather new topic in both science and engineering. The main reason for increasing attention for ageing as a topic is the growing awareness that, particularly in industrialized countries,

The epithelium is one of the most important tissue types in the body and the specific organization of the epithelial cells in these tissues is important for achieving appropriate function. Since many tissues contain an epithelial component, engineering functional epithelium and understanding the factors that control epithelial maturation and organization are important for generating whole artificial organ replacements. Furthermore, disruption of the cellular organization leads to tissue malfunction and disease; therefore, engineered epithelium could provide a valuable in vitro model to study disease phenotypes. Despite the importance of epithelial tissues, a surprisingly limited amount of effort has been focused on organizing epithelial cells into artificial polarized epithelium with an appropriate structure that resembles that seen in vivo. In this review, we provide an overview of epithelial tissue organization and highlight the importance of cell polarization to achieve appropriate epithelium function. We next describe the in vitro models that exist to create polarized epithelium and summarize attempts to engineer artificial epithelium for clinical use. Finally, we highlight the opportunities that exist to translate strategies from tissue engineering other tissues to generate polarized epithelium with a functional structure.

Crowd-based requirements engineering (CrowdRE) could significantly change RE. Performing RE activities such as elicitation with the crowd of stakeholders turns RE into a participatory effort, leads to more accurate requirements, and ultimately boosts software quality. Although any stakeholder in the

This Final Report discussed four case studies (whole genome sequencing, neuromodulation, biocybernetic adaptation and standardization in synthetic biology) focusing on particular developments in the four fields of 21st-century bio-engineering that were explored more extensively in the earlier

Public health engineering can play an important and significant role in solving environmental health issues. In order to confront public health challenges emerging out of environmental problems we need adequately trained public health engineers / environmental engineers. Considering the current burden of disease attributable to environmental factors and expansion in scope of applications of public health / environmental engineering science, it is essential to understand the present scenario of teaching, training and capacity building programs in these areas. Against this background the present research was carried out to know the current teaching and training programs in public health engineering and related disciplines in India and to understand the potential opportunities and challenges available. A systematic, predefined approach was used to collect and assemble the data related to various teaching and training programs in public health engineering / environmental engineering in India. Public health engineering / environmental engineering education and training in the country is mainly offered through engineering institutions, as pre-service and in-service training. Pre-service programs include diploma, degree (graduate) and post-graduate courses affiliated to various state technical boards, institutes and universities, whereas in-service training is mainly provided by Government of India recognized engineering and public health training institutes. Though trainees of these programs acquire skills related to engineering sciences, they significantly lack in public health skills. The teaching and training of public health engineering / environmental engineering is limited as a part of public health programs (MD Community Medicine, MPH, DPH) in India. There is need for developing teaching and training of public health engineering or environmental engineering as an interdisciplinary subject. Public health institutes can play an important and significant role in this

Chemical product design is not taught in the same way as traditional engineering courses like unit operations or transport phenomena. This paper gives an overview of the challenges that we, as teachers, have faced when teaching chemical product design to engineering students. Specific course...

The ability to solve problems with people of diverse backgrounds is essential for engineering graduates. A course on engineering grand challenges was designed to promote collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills. One unique component is that students need to work both within their own team and collaborate with the other team to tackle engineering…

This paper concerns the cutting edge educational approaches incorporated into syllabuses of the most progressive Russian higher technical schools. The authors discuss one of the active methods in teaching foreign languages – collaborative learning implemented in e-courses. Theoretical and historical aspects of this approach are addressed, as are its suitability for engineering education and possible ways of introducing collaborative learning into e-courses. Collaborative learning technology o...

This report discusses research in the following areas at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: national challenges; the Livermore Laboratory; national defense: preserving peace in a rapidly changing world; energy: clean and economic; environment: from the microscopic to the global; health: genetics and biomedicine; economy: bringing laboratory technology to the US market; education: sparking interest in science; and the Livermore Laboratory: a national resource

Full text: Innovation in nuclear engineering education should reflect the current challenges, trends and opportunities that digital technologies are promoting in the whole educational field. The European Commission has recently stressed that technology and open educational resources represent clear opportunities to reshape EU education, contributing to the necessary modernization of higher education in order to give response to XXI century challenges. In this paper, the innovations that the Spanish National Distance Education University (UNED) are making in the digital education domain, including open educational resources (OER) and massive open online courses (MOOCs) developments applied to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and the nuclear engineering field, are presented. (author

Cryogenic engine capable of delivering 200 kN thrust is being developed for the first time in the country by ISRO for powering the upper stage of GSLV Mk-III, the next generation launch vehicle of ISRO capable of launching four tonne class satellites to Geo-synchronous Transfer Orbit(GTO). Development of this engine started a decade ago when various sub-systems development and testing were taken up. Starting with injector element development, the design, realization and testing of the major sub-systems viz the gas generator, turbopumps, start-up system and thrust chamber have been successfully done in a phased manner before conducting a series of developmental tests in the integrated engine mode. Apart from the major sub-systems, many critical components like the igniter, control components etc were independently developed and qualified. During the development program many challenges were faced in almost all areas of propulsion engineering. Systems engineering of the engine was another key challenge in the realization. This paper gives an outlook on various technological challenges faced in the key areas related to the engine development, insight to the solutions and measures taken to overcome the challenges.

A very important and complex subject, on which the engineer together with the physicist must meditate very intensely, concerns the practicableness, the operation safety and the economy of the electrotechnical components and systems as are required in the actual reactor scale. There upon it depends essentially according to which plasma-physical concept - magnetic inclusion or inertia inclusion - a fusion reactor could work in the future. The blanket structure, the breeding of the tritium connected therewith and the electrotechnical problems, which are recognized at the transmission of plasma-physical concepts into actual reactor scales and at the adaptation to reactor requirements are discussed in this contribution. (orig.) 891 HP 892 AG [de

Leading fusion energy research institutions are currently engaged in the Engineering Design Activity for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). A tokamak reactor design is evolving which emphasizes high system performance in a minimum overall reactor and building size. The resulting high component density dictates careful attention to ITER remote maintenance considerations in the development of the configuration. The complexity and scale of ITER remote maintenance tasks are well beyond the scope of today's experience and technology. This paper discusses the remote maintenance philosophy, describes the basic configuration as it relates to maintenance, and describes the basic procedures and equipment required. Key enabling technology research and development needs are also addressed

Greenland is a modern society with Self Governance, but only half a century ago it was primarily a fishing and hunting society governed as a colony by a Danish elite. The rapid changes have left Greenland with many social problems, and compared to Western Europe relatively few finish education...... students tend to withdraw from discussions, which are an important part of the education. The paper will discuss our experiences with handling these challenges....

Nuclear thermal to electric power conversion carries the promise of longer duration missions and higher scientific data transmission rates back to Earth for a range of missions, including both Mars rovers and deep space missions. A free-piston Stirling convertor is a candidate technology that is considered an efficient and reliable power conversion device for such purposes. While already very efficient, it is believed that better Stirling engines can be developed if the losses inherent in current designs could be better understood. However, they are difficult to instrument and so efforts are underway to simulate a complete Stirling engine numerically. This has only recently been attempted and a review of the methods leading up to and including such computational analysis is presented. And finally it is proposed that the quality and depth of Stirling loss understanding may be improved by utilizing the higher fidelity and efficiency of recently developed numerical methods. One such method, the Ultra HI-FI technique is presented in detail.

A Distributed Engine Control Working Group (DECWG) consisting of the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) and industry has been formed to examine the current and future requirements of propulsion engine systems. The scope of this study will include an assessment of the paradigm shift from centralized engine control architecture to an architecture based on distributed control utilizing open system standards. Included will be a description of the work begun in the 1990's, which continues today, followed by the identification of the remaining technical challenges which present barriers to on-engine distributed control.

Smartphones have an enormous conceptual and structural influence on measurement science & education, instrumentation & training. Smartphones are matured. They became convenient, reliable and affordable. In 2009 worldwide 174 million Smartphones has been delivered. Measurement with Smartphones is ready for the future. In only 10 years the German vision industry tripled its global sales volume to one Billion Euro/Year. Machine vision is used for mobile object identification, contactless industrial quality control, personalized health care, remote facility and transport management, safety critical surveillance and all tasks which are too complex for the human eye or too monotonous for the human brain. Aim of the paper is to describe selected success stories for the application of Smartphones for measurement engineering in science and education, instrumentation and training.

Since 1976, the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) has been dedicated to understanding and improving the way in which one NASA organization, the Flight Dynamics Division (FDD), develops, maintains, and manages complex flight dynamics systems. The SEL is composed of three member organizations: NASA/GSFC, the University of Maryland, and Computer Sciences Corporation. During the past 18 years, the SEL's overall goal has remained the same: to improve the FDD's software products and processes in a measured manner. This requires that each development and maintenance effort be viewed, in part, as a SEL experiment which examines a specific technology or builds a model of interest for use on subsequent efforts. The SEL has undertaken many technology studies while developing operational support systems for numerous NASA spacecraft missions.

Our goal is to expose some of the close ties that exist between knowledge engineering (KE) and qualitative methodology (QM). Many key concepts of qualitative research, for example meaning, commonsense, understanding, and everyday life, overlap with central research concerns in artificial intelligence. These shared interests constitute a largely unexplored avenue for interdisciplinary cooperation. We compare and take some steps toward integrating two historically diverse methodologies by exploring the commonalities of KE and QM both from a substantive and a methodological/technical perspective. In the second part of this essay, we address knowledge acquisition problems and procedures. Knowledge acquisition within KE has been based primarily on cognitive psychology/science foundations, whereas knowledge acquisition within QM has a broader foundation in phenomenology, symbolic interactionism, and ethnomethodology. Our discussion and examples are interdisciplinary in nature. We do not suggest that there is a clash between the KE and QM frameworks, but rather that the lack of communication potentially may limit each framework's future development.

Higher education in Europe has passed through a very dynamic period of changes during the last ten years. Since the signing of the Bologna Declaration in 1999 by the Ministers of Education from the EU states, European higher education system has aimed toward establishing harmonized programs enabling students and teachers to extensively exchange knowledge, ideas and skills. Education in the field of Biomedical Engineering has experienced changes also because of the research and development in the field which was more intensive than in other fields. Besides research in new power sources, it is the most intensive and productive research field. Much of the development in BME education in Europe is influenced by the European research policy expressed through the 7th Framework Programme where health is the major theme. In order to foster and support the changes in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) according to the needs of research sector and the labor market, the Tempus scheme of projects was established. Tempus scheme aims to support the modernization of higher education and create an area of co-operation in the countries surrounding the EU. Our Tempus project, CRH-BME "Curricula Reformation and Harmonization in the field of Biomedical Engineering" aims to create guidelines for updating existing curricula in the field of BME in Europe in order to meet recent and future developments in the area, address new emerging interdisciplinary domains that appear as the result of the R&D progress and respond to the BME job market demands. In this paper, some policy and economic factors affecting BME education in Europe are discussed and the results of a BME education survey we prepared within the Tempus CHR-BME project are presented. The number of BME programmes in Europe has in the last decade significantly increased and there are more BME specializations as the result of growing complexity of the research and production in the field.

Offshore development of marginal Oil and Gas fields can often be economically profitable if they can be tied in to existing platforms. This usually requires execution of comprehensive feasibility studies, which can often be a long and costly process. Close cooperation in a multi discipline engineering team is necessary to assure that all possibilities and aspects of the design task have been evaluated. Integration of a new flow measurement module on an existing installation is often the simplest solution, yielding low total cost as the module can be assembled and fully tested on shore. However on many installations one is required to integrate the new equipment in existing modules. Flow measurement is a crucial element in the development of marginal fields which has to be evaluated, taking into consideration all critical aspects such as: available space, weight, location accessibility, maintenance and integration to existing metering systems. In particular, special attention should be given to the possible use of new flow measurement technologies and principles. (author) (tk)

Full Text Available This paper concerns the cutting edge educational approaches incorporated into syllabuses of the most progressive Russian higher technical schools. The authors discuss one of the active methods in teaching foreign languages – collaborative learning implemented in e-courses. Theoretical and historical aspects of this approach are addressed, as are its suitability for engineering education and possible ways of introducing collaborative learning into e-courses. Collaborative learning technology offers wide prospects for teachers of foreign languages as it enables the use of various patterns of interaction, promotes discussion, opinion exchange, peer assessment and building an e-learning community, fosters the development of e-culture and netiquette, and prepares future specialists for work in their professional sphere under the new conditions imposed by society’s technological and cultural development. This paper describes real pedagogical experience of teaching English to students using the platform Moodle, focusing on the capacity of different Moodle instruments for designing group work tasks. Recommendations are given for their usage and the results of implementing a collaborative learning approach into certain e-courses offered at Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact that developments in transhumanist technologies may have upon human cultures (and thus upon the lifeworld), and to do so by exploring a potential debate between Habermas and the transhumanists. Transhumanists, such as Nick Bostrom, typically see the potential in genetic and other technologies for positively expanding and transcending human nature. In contrast, Habermas is a representative of those who are fearful of this technology, suggesting that it will compound the deleterious effects of the colonisation of the lifeworld, further constraining human autonomy and undermining the meaningfulness of the lifeworld by expanding the technological control and manipulation of humanity. It will be argued that these opposed positions are grounded in fundamentally different understandings of the consequences of scientific and technological advance. On one level, the transhumanists remain confident that the lifeworld has within it the resources necessary to find meaning and purpose in a society deeply infused by genetic technology. Habermas disagrees. On another level, the difference is articulated by Horkheimer and Adorno in Dialectic of Enlightenment, primarily by challenging what may be understood as a Baconian faith in science as a project for the domination of nature (where nature is an infinitely malleable material, to be dominated and shaped, without adverse consequences, purely for the purposes of human survival). While the transhumanists broadly embrace this faith, Habermas returns to something akin to Horkheimer and Adorno's pessimistic scepticism.

Full Text Available Many people from generation Z are at the beginning of their academic activities. This generation has peculiar characteristics that might be a challenge in the labor market. Thus, instructors have a great role in their preparation. However, professors might face difficulties dealing with their specific characteristics. The research aims to carry out a general survey to enable an understanding of the greater challenges and difficulties in teaching the subject of engineering to the students of Generation Z. The research method used was a case study at a University with 20 instructors from the Faculty of Engineering. The analysis revealed a great challenge in relating theoretical concepts with practical concepts. The research also showed a probable tendency of using more exhibition methods, and the low knowledge about generation Z by most instructors. This study seeks to contribute to the teaching-learning process of engineering.

"An unusual case of plagiarism has struck ArXiv, the popular physics preprint server at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, resulting in the withdrawal of 22 papers...The plagiarism case traces its origins to June 2002, when Yasushi Watanabe, a high-energy physicist at the Tokyo Insitute of Technology, was contacted by Ramy Noboulsi, who said he was a mathematical physicist" (1 page)

A department of biomedical engineering can significantly enhance the impact of their research and training programs if a productive relationship with a medical school can be established. In order to develop such a relationship, significant hurdles must be overcome. This editorial summarizes some of the major challenges and opportunities for a department of biomedical engineering as they seek to build or enhance a relationship with a medical school. The ideas were formulated by engaging the collective wisdom from the Council of Chairs of the biomedical engineering departments.

Entrepreneurship is one of the contemporary expectations to engineers and their training at engineering schools. But what is entrepreneurship? We propose three different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship in engineering and design programs. They are: (1) the technology-driven promotion response...... centered in technological development; (2) the business selection response strategy centered in business skills (which should be additional to the technical skills); and (3) the design intervention response strategy focused on a network approach to technology, business and society. These conceptualizations...... are response strategies from engineering communities, professors and institutions to perceived challenges. We argue that all engineering educators deal in one way or another with the three response strategies when approaching issues of curricular design, academicreform and the international accreditation...

The importance of engineering ethics education has become widely recognized in the industrialized countries including Japan. This paper examines the background against which engineering ethics education is required, and reviews its objectives, methods, and challenges, as well as its current state. In pointing out important issues associated with the apparent acceptance and quantitative development of ethics education, especially after the establishment of the Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education in 1999, the author stresses that the most serious problem is the lack of common understanding on the objectives of engineering ethics education. As a strategy to improve the situation, the so-called “Ethics-across-the-Curriculum” approach is introduced. The author also claims that business/organization ethics which is consistent with engineering ethics should be promoted in Japan.

Many people from generation Z are at the beginning of their academic activities. This generation has peculiar characteristics that might be a challenge in the labor market. Thus, instructors have a great role in their preparation. However, professors might face difficulties dealing with their specific characteristics. The research aims to carry out a general survey to enable an understanding of the greater challenges and difficulties in teaching the subject of engineering to the students of G...

This article explores challenges and opportunities associated with sharing qualitative data in engineering education research. This exploration is theoretically informed by an existing framework of interpretive research quality with a focus on the concept of Communicative Validation. Drawing on practice anecdotes from the authors' work, the…

South Africa, with its national cultural diversity and post-apartheid challenges and commitments, finds echoes in the European context, especially considering the imperatives of openness and non-discrimination in higher education. With an historical tradition of excellence in engineering education, the emphasis on supporting educationally…

From a sociocultural point of view, this qualitative case study explored how upper-level, female undergraduate engineering students perceived the possibility of or experience with stereotype threat as shaping their experiences. The study also investigated how these students explained their reasons for choosing their engineering major, the challenges they encountered in the major, and their reasons for persevering in spite of those challenges. Using Steele and Aronson's (1995) stereotype threat theory as a framework, and considering the documented underrepresentation of females in engineering, the study sought to examine how stereotype threat shaped the experiences of these students and if stereotype threat could be considered a valid reason for the underrepresentation. The study was conducted at a large, four-year public university. First, students in the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology completed the Participant Screening Survey. Based on responses from the survey, six female engineering students from the college were identified and invited to participate in the study. The participants came from the following majors: Electrical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. After receiving the study consent letter and agreeing to participate, the students were involved in a 90-minute focus group meeting, a 45-minute one-on-one interview, and a 30-minute follow-up interview. After conducting the data collection methods, the data were then transcribed, analyzed, and coded for theme development. The themes that emerged coincided with each research question. The themes highlighted the complex interactions and experiences shared by the female engineering majors. The female students were enveloped in an environment where there existed an increased risk for activating stereotype threat. In addition, the female students described feeling pushed to prove to themselves and to others that the negative stereotype that 'females

In the recent years the development of turbomachinery materials performance enhancement plays a vital role especially in aircraft air breathing engines like turbojet engine, turboprop engine, turboshaft engine and turbofan engines. Especially the transonic flow engines required highly sophisticated materials where it can sustain the entire thrust which can create by the engine. The main objective of this paper is to give an overview of the present cost-effective and technological capabilities process for turbomachinery component materials. Especially the main focus is given to study the Electro physical, Photonic additive removal process and Electro chemical process for turbomachinery parts manufacture. The aeronautical propulsion based technologies are reviewed thoroughly where in surface reliability, geometrical precession, and material removal and highly strengthened composite material deposition rates usually difficult to cut dedicated steels, Titanium and Nickel based alloys. In this paper the past aeronautical and propulsion mechanical based manufacturing technologies, current sophisticated technologies and also future challenging material processing techniques are covered. The paper also focuses on the brief description of turbomachinery components of shaping process and coating in aeromechanical applications.

reactions to certain PEG-PL engineered nanomedicines in both experimental animals and man. These reactions are classified as pseudoallergy and may be associated with cardiopulmonary disturbance and other related symptoms of anaphylaxis. Recent studies suggest that complement activation may be a contributing......, but not a rate limiting factor, in eliciting hypersensitivity reactions to such nanomedicines in sensitive individuals. This is rather surprising since PEGylated structures are generally assumed to suppress protein adsorption and blood opsonization events including complement. Here, we examine the molecular...... basis of complement activation by PEG-PL engineered nanomedicines and carbon nanotubes and discuss the challenges ahead....

There are a variety of imperatives which call us to transform engineering education. Those who have made attempts to facilitate a change in engineering education have experienced slow or no progress. The literature on change has suggestions and strategies related to educational change but most of them are not able to guide the conversations and actions effectively. People interested in understanding the challenges often ask 'what makes educational change so difficult?' This research is an effort towards finding an answer to this question. The study adopted a transdisciplinary approach while taking a systems perspective on educational change in order to examine the challenges. Instead of exploring the effectiveness of change strategies and interventions, this study sought to understand the basic nature of change in engineering education organizations. For this purpose, the study adopted an integrated theoretical framework consisting of systems thinking, complexity theory, and transformative learning theory. The methodology was designed on the complexity research paradigm with interpretive qualitative methods used for data analysis. This approach enabled understanding the social and human conditions which reduce or enhance the likelihood of change in the context of an engineering education organization. The context for this study to investigate the challenges of transformation in engineering education is efforts around educating the Engineer of 2020. Four institutional initiatives at various stages in the transformation process provided cases for investigation in the study. The engineering educators at the four institutions participating in the study had experiences of active engagement in educational change. The interpretive qualitative analysis of the participants' accounts induced a systems perspective of the challenges which faculty face in their educational transformation efforts. The inertia which educational organizations experience against change appears to

Introduction: Successful tissue engineering strategies leading to the regeneration of a tissue depend on many factors, starting from the choice of appropriate scaffold material, tailoring the surface functionalities and topography, providing the correct amount of chemical and mechanical stimuli at the appropriate time points, and ensuring the uniform and precise localization of cells. Further challenges arise when more than one cell type has to be employed for the effective regeneration of an...

as part of organizational thinking , processes and practice; and 2) an adequate SoSE practice supporting environment created and used to enable SoS...UNCLASSIFIED UNCLLASIFIED A Systems Thinking Approach to EngineeringChallenges of Military Systems-of-Systems Pin Chen and Mark...their products and outcomes. This report introduces a systems thinking -based approach, SoS thinking , which offers a language and a thoughtful process

High intense radiation fields were demanded to IFMIF to address the lack of information on effects in materials due to radiation fields with fusion reactor features. Such intense radiation fields will also produce a number of unwanted effects in exposed materials and components. The main difficulties to achieve a reliable engineering design of the Test Facilities System during the Engineering Validation and the Engineering Design phase of IFMIF now under development are reviewed in this paper. The most challenging activities will be the design of the high flux test module, the creep fatigue test module, the test cell and the remote handling system. The intense radiation fields in the irradiation area and the high availability required for IFMIF (70%) are the main reasons for these difficulties.

faculty, research and education communities, conferences, and journals. However, design remains an emerging sub-discipline in civil and environmental engineering – practiced, valued, and taught but not subject to rigorous academic research. This paper presents some of the challenges associated...... with the establishment of design as a research discipline within civil and environmental engineering, some of the benefits and opportunities that will come from that establishment, and some evidence for the fact that this process has already begun.......There are a number of fields including architecture, industrial design, and urban planning and design, where design is the discipline upon which all research and teaching activities are based. In other fields such as aerospace and mechanical engineering, design is a sub-discipline with its own...

Full Text Available Acquiring and processing video streams from static cameras has been proposed as one of the most efficient tools for visualizing and gathering traffic information. With the latest advances in technology and visual media, combined with the increased needs in dealing with congestion more effectively and directly, the use of Unmanned Aerial Aircraft Systems (UAS has emerged in the field of traffic engineering. In this paper, we review studies and applications that incorporate UAS in transportation research and practice with the aim to set the grounds from the proper understanding and implementation of UAS related surveillance systems in transportation and traffic engineering. The studies reviewed are categorized in different transportation engineering areas. Additional significant applications from other research fields are also referenced to identify other promising applications. Finally, issues and emerging challenges in both a conceptual and methodological level are revealed and discussed.

Following the cancellation of the Constellation program and retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA initiated the Space Launch System (SLS) program to provide next-generation heavy lift cargo and crew access to space. A key constituent of the SLS architecture is the RS-25 engine, also known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME). The RS-25 was selected to serve as the main propulsion system for the SLS core stage in conjunction with the solid rocket boosters. This selection was largely based on the maturity and extensive experience gained through 135 missions, 3000+ ground tests, and over a million seconds total accumulated hot-fire time. In addition, there were also over a dozen functional flight assets remaining from the Space Shuttle program that could be leveraged to support the first four flights. However, while the RS-25 is a highly mature system, simply unbolting it from the Space Shuttle boat-tail and installing it on the new SLS vehicle is not a "plug-and-play" operation. In addition to numerous technical integration details involving changes to significant areas such as the environments, interface conditions, technical performance requirements, operational constraints and so on, there were other challenges to be overcome in the area of replacing the obsolete engine control system (ECS). While the magnitude of accomplishing this effort was less than that needed to develop and field a new clean-sheet engine system, the path to the first flight of SLS has not been without unexpected challenges.

As design teams are becoming more globally integrated, one of the biggest challenges is to efficiently communicate across the team. The increasing complexity and multi-disciplinary nature of the products are also making it difficult to keep track of all the information generated during the design process by these global team members. System engineers have identified Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) as a possible solution where the emphasis is placed on the application of visual modeling methods and best practices to systems engineering (SE) activities right from the beginning of the conceptual design phases through to the end of the product lifecycle. Despite several advantages, there are multiple challenges restricting the adoption of MBSE by industry. We mainly consider the following two challenges: a) Industry perceives MBSE just as a diagramming tool and does not see too much value in MBSE; b) Industrial adopters are skeptical if the products developed using MBSE approach will be accepted by the regulatory bodies. To provide counter evidence to the former challenge, we developed a generic framework for translation from an MBSE tool (Systems Modeling Language, SysML) to an analysis tool (Agent-Based Modeling, ABM). The translation is demonstrated using a simplified air traffic management problem and provides an example of a potential quite significant value: the ability to use MBSE representations directly in an analysis setting. For the latter challenge, we are developing a reference model that uses SysML to represent a generic infusion pump and SE process for planning, developing, and obtaining regulatory approval of a medical device. This reference model demonstrates how regulatory requirements can be captured effectively through model-based representations. We will present another case study at the end where we will apply the knowledge gained from both case studies to a UAV design problem.

Full Text Available The challenges posed by smart manufacturing for the process industries and for process systems engineering (PSE researchers are discussed in this article. Much progress has been made in achieving plant- and site-wide optimization, but benchmarking would give greater confidence. Technical challenges confronting process systems engineers in developing enabling tools and techniques are discussed regarding flexibility and uncertainty, responsiveness and agility, robustness and security, the prediction of mixture properties and function, and new modeling and mathematics paradigms. Exploiting intelligence from big data to drive agility will require tackling new challenges, such as how to ensure the consistency and confidentiality of data through long and complex supply chains. Modeling challenges also exist, and involve ensuring that all key aspects are properly modeled, particularly where health, safety, and environmental concerns require accurate predictions of small but critical amounts at specific locations. Environmental concerns will require us to keep a closer track on all molecular species so that they are optimally used to create sustainable solutions. Disruptive business models may result, particularly from new personalized products, but that is difficult to predict.

Full Text Available Underground construction in China is featured by large scale, high speed, long construction period, complex operation and frustrating situations regarding project safety. Various accidents have been reported from time to time, resulting in serious social impact and huge economic loss. This paper presents the main progress in the safety risk management of underground engineering in China over the last decade, i.e. (1 establishment of laws and regulations for safety risk management of underground engineering, (2 implementation of the safety risk management plan, (3 establishment of decision support system for risk management and early-warning based on information technology, and (4 strengthening the study on safety risk management, prediction and prevention. Based on the analysis of the typical accidents in China in the last decade, the new challenges in the safety risk management for underground engineering are identified as follows: (1 control of unsafe human behaviors; (2 technological innovation in safety risk management; and (3 design of safety risk management regulations. Finally, the strategies for safety risk management of underground engineering in China are proposed in six aspects, i.e. the safety risk management system and policy, law, administration, economy, education and technology.

Damage to the peripheral nervous system is surprisingly common and occurs primarily from trauma or a complication of surgery. Although recovery of nerve function occurs in many mild injuries, outcomes are often unsatisfactory following severe trauma. Nerve repair and regeneration presents unique clinical challenges and opportunities, and substantial contributions can be made through the informed application of biomedical engineering strategies. This article reviews the clinical presentations and classification of nerve injuries, in addition to the state of the art for surgical decision-making and repair strategies. This discussion presents specific challenges that must be addressed to realistically improve the treatment of nerve injuries and promote widespread recovery. In particular, nerve defects a few centimeters in length use a sensory nerve autograft as the standard technique; however, this approach is limited by the availability of donor nerve and comorbidity associated with additional surgery. Moreover, we currently have an inadequate ability to noninvasively assess the degree of nerve injury and to track axonal regeneration. As a result, wait-and-see surgical decisions can lead to undesirable and less successful "delayed" repair procedures. In this fight for time, degeneration of the distal nerve support structure and target progresses, ultimately blunting complete functional recovery. Thus, the most pressing challenges in peripheral nerve repair include the development of tissue-engineered nerve grafts that match or exceed the performance of autografts, the ability to noninvasively assess nerve damage and track axonal regeneration, and approaches to maintain the efficacy of the distal pathway and targets during the regenerative process. Biomedical engineering strategies can address these issues to substantially contribute at both the basic and applied levels, improving surgical management and functional recovery following severe peripheral nerve injury.

This paper aims at explaining why it is that some technologies become so entrenched in our society that it becomes virtually impossible to alter them, and why some challengers nevertheless succeed. It attempts to show that it is seldom enough to explain success and failure by reference to technical factors. By means of an historically comparative analysis of two challengers to the automobile gasoline engine - steam and diesel, the paper tries to show that history can help us understand and perhaps amend the problems that contemporary politicians and other social actors experience in trying to find niches for unconventional technologies. The central thesis is that established technologies remain because they have gained symbolic power, are carried by deeply embedded organizational structures, and have helped to create strong behavioral patterns. An alternative technology seldom succeeds if it poses an alternative at all three levels; indeed, the contention is that a too ambitious alternative is less likely to succeed than a conservative one. In this particular case, the diesel slowly but surely rid itself of the symbolism that had for a long time put it at a disadvantage compared to the gasoline engine; it was taken up by the same actors and organizations that supported the gasoline engine; its engineers managed to provide users with functions that were so familiar that they did not have to change their set patterns of behavior. The steamer, by contrast, did not succeed in any of these respects; its meaning came to be associated (negatively) with high fuel consumption; its organizational affiliations were weak; and users were never given the opportunity to test their willingness to modify their behavior. 50 refs

Closed systems are desirable for a number of purposes: space life support systems where precious life-supporting resources need to be kept inside; biospheric systems; where global ecological pro-cesses can be studied in great detail and testbeds where research topics requiring isolation from the outside (e.g. genetically modified organisms; radioisotopes) can be studied in isolation from the outside environment and where their ecological interactions and fluxes can be studied. But to achieve and maintain closure raises both engineering and ecological challenges. Engineeringchallenges include methods of achieving closure for structures of different materials, and devel-oping methods of allowing energy (for heating and cooling) and information transfer through the materially closed structure. Methods of calculating degree of closure include measuring degradation rates of inert trace gases introduced into the system. An allied problem is devel-oping means of locating where leaks are located so that they may be repaired and degree of closure maintained. Once closure is achieved, methods of dealing with the pressure differen-tials between inside and outside are needed: from inflatable structures which might adjust to the pressure difference to variable volume chambers attached to the life systems component. These issues are illustrated through the engineering employed at Biosphere 2, the Biosphere 2 Test Module and the Laboratory Biosphere and a discussion of methods used by other closed ecological system facility engineers. Ecological challenges include being able to handle faster cycling rates and accentuated daily and seasonal fluxes of critical life elements such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, water, macro-and mico-nutrients. The problems of achieving sustainability in closed systems for life support include how to handle atmospheric dynamics including trace gases, producing a complete human diet and recycling nutrients and maintaining soil fertility, healthy air and

Full Text Available Our knowledge society is quickly becoming a 'transparent' one. This transparency is acquired, among other means, by 'personalization' or 'profiling': ICT tools gathering contextualized information about individuals in men–computers interactions. The paper begins with an overview of these ICT tools (behavioral targeting, recommendation engines, 'personalization' through social networking. Based on these developments the analysis focus a case study of developments in social network (Facebook and the trade-offs between 'personalization' and privacy constrains. A deeper analysis will reveal unexpected challenges and the need to overcome the privacy paradigm. Finally a draft of possible normative solutions will be depicted, grounded in new forms of individual rights.

NSTX is one of the largest of a new class of magnetic plasma research devices known as spherical toroids (STs). The plasma in a ST is characterized by its almost spherical shape with a slender cylindrical region through its vertical axis. The so-called 'center stack' is located in this region. It contains magnetic windings for confining the plasma, induce the plasma current, and shape the plasma. This paper will describe the engineeringchallenges of designing the center stack magnets to meet their operational requirements within this constrained space

Digital model-based engineering (DMbE) is the use of digital artifacts, digital environments, and digital tools in the performance of engineering functions. DMbE is intended to allow an organization to progress from documentation-based engineering methods to digital methods that may provide greater flexibility, agility, and efficiency. The term 'DMbE' was developed as part of an effort by the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Infusion Task team to identify what government organizations might expect in the course of moving to or infusing MBSE into their organizations. The Task team was established by the Interagency Working Group on Engineering Complex Systems, an informal collaboration among government systems engineering organizations. This Technical Memorandum (TM) discusses the work of the MBSE Infusion Task team to date. The Task team identified prerequisites, expectations, initial challenges, and recommendations for areas of study to pursue, as well as examples of efforts already in progress. The team identified the following five expectations associated with DMbE infusion, discussed further in this TM: (1) Informed decision making through increased transparency, and greater insight. (2) Enhanced communication. (3) Increased understanding for greater flexibility/adaptability in design. (4) Increased confidence that the capability will perform as expected. (5) Increased efficiency. The team identified the following seven challenges an organization might encounter when looking to infuse DMbE: (1) Assessing value added to the organization. Not all DMbE practices will be applicable to every situation in every organization, and not all implementations will have positive results. (2) Overcoming organizational and cultural hurdles. (3) Adopting contractual practices and technical data management. (4) Redefining configuration management. The DMbE environment changes the range of configuration information to be managed to include performance and design models

In this article we introduce the ICTP-International Centre for Theoretical Physics's prototype for a ''One-Shot World-Wide Preprints Search'' on the Web. This is a new centralized interface for a global search throughout the most popular scientific preprint repositories. Herein, we briefly discuss our experience with the implementation of this service and propose it as a possible alternative solution to the problem of getting access to the information without being either overloaded with lots of new documents or not being informed at all. (author). 13 refs, 3 figs

In this article we introduce the ICTP-International Centre for Theoretical Physics`s prototype for a ``One-Shot World-Wide Preprints Search`` on the Web. This is a new centralized interface for a global search throughout the most popular scientific preprint repositories. Herein, we briefly discuss our experience with the implementation of this service and propose it as a possible alternative solution to the problem of getting access to the information without being either overloaded with lots of new documents or not being informed at all. (author). 13 refs, 3 figs.

The RA nuclear research at the Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences is the largest nuclear research facility in Yugoslavia and belongs to that generation of research reactors which have had an important contribution to nuclear technology development. As these older reactors were generally not built to specific nuclear standards, new safety systems had to be installed at the RA reactor for a renewal of its operating licence in 1984 and it was shut down, after 25 years of operation. Although all the required and several additional systems were built for the restart of the RA reactor, a disruption of foreign delivery of new control equipment caused its conversion to a 'dormant' facility, and it is still out of operation. Therefore, the future status of the RA reactor presents an engineering and scientific challenge to the engineers and scientists from Yugoslavia and other countries that may be interested to participate. To attract their attention on the subject, principal features of the RA reactor and its present status are described in detail, based on a recent engineering economic and safety evaluation. A comparative review of the world research reactors is also presented.(author)

Full Text Available In this study, condition monitoring strategies are examined for gas turbine engines using vibration data. The focus is on data-driven approaches, for this reason a novelty detection framework is considered for the development of reliable data-driven models that can describe the underlying relationships of the processes taking place during an engine’s operation. From a data analysis perspective, the high dimensionality of features extracted and the data complexity are two problems that need to be dealt with throughout analyses of this type. The latter refers to the fact that the healthy engine state data can be non-stationary. To address this, the implementation of the wavelet transform is examined to get a set of features from vibration signals that describe the non-stationary parts. The problem of high dimensionality of the features is addressed by “compressing” them using the kernel principal component analysis so that more meaningful, lower-dimensional features can be used to train the pattern recognition algorithms. For feature discrimination, a novelty detection scheme that is based on the one-class support vector machine (OCSVM algorithm is chosen for investigation. The main advantage, when compared to other pattern recognition algorithms, is that the learning problem is being cast as a quadratic program. The developed condition monitoring strategy can be applied for detecting excessive vibration levels that can lead to engine component failure. Here, we demonstrate its performance on vibration data from an experimental gas turbine engine operating on different conditions. Engine vibration data that are designated as belonging to the engine’s “normal” condition correspond to fuels and air-to-fuel ratio combinations, in which the engine experienced low levels of vibration. Results demonstrate that such novelty detection schemes can achieve a satisfactory validation accuracy through appropriate selection of two parameters of the

The Magnetic Diagnostics Flux Loops (MDFL) are a key diagnostic for the ITER tokamak, providing important information about the shape of the plasma boundary, instabilities and magnetic error fields. In total, 237 flux loops will be installed on ITER, on the inside and outside walls of the Vacuum Vessel, and will range in area from 1 m 2 to 250 m 2 . This paper describes the detailed engineering design of the MDFL, explaining the solutions developed to maintain measurement accuracy within their difficult operating environment and other requirements: ultra-high vacuum conditions, strong magnetic fields, high gamma and neutron radiation doses, challenging installation, very high reliability and no maintenance during the 20 year machine lifetime. In addition, the paper discusses testing work undertaken to validate the design and outlines the remaining tasks to be performed. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ITER Organization. (authors)

This paper presents the content and outcomes of the Safran contest organized during the International Conference Surveillance 8, October 20-21, 2015, at the Roanne Institute of Technology, France. The contest dealt with the diagnosis of a civil aircraft engine based on vibration data measured in a transient operating mode and provided by Safran. Based on two independent exercises, the contest offered the possibility to benchmark current diagnostic methods on real data supplemented with several challenges. Outcomes of seven competing teams are reported and discussed. The object of the paper is twofold. It first aims at giving a picture of the current state-of-the-art in vibration-based diagnosis of rolling-element bearings in nonstationary operating conditions. Second, it aims at providing the scientific community with a benchmark and some baseline solutions. In this respect, the data used in the contest are made available as supplementary material.

The Tandem Mirror Reactor is described and compared with Tokamaks, both from a basic physics viewpoint and from the suitability of the respective reactor for synfuel production. Differences and similarities between the TMR as an electricity producer or a synfuel producer are also cited. The Thermochemical cycle chosen to link with the fusion energy source is the General Atomic Sulfur-Iodine Cycle, which is a purely thermal-driven process with no electrochemical steps. There are real chemical engineeringchallenges of getting this high quality heat into the large thermochemical plant in an efficient manner. We illustrate with some of our approaches to providing process heat via liquid sodium to drive a 1050 K, highly-endothermic, catalytic and fluidized-bed SO 3 Decomposition Reactor. The technical, economic, and safety tradeoffs that arise are discussed

The Upper Stage (US) section of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Ares I rocket will require internal access platforms for maintenance tasks performed by humans inside the vehicle. Tasks will occur during expensive critical path operations at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) including vehicle stacking and launch preparation activities. Platforms must be translated through a small human access hatch, installed in an enclosed worksite environment, support the weight of ground operators and be removed before flight - and their design must minimize additional vehicle mass at attachment points. This paper describes the application of a user-centered conceptual design process and the unique challenges encountered within NASA's systems engineering culture focused on requirements and "heritage hardware". The NASA design team at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) initiated the user-centered design process by studying heritage internal access kits and proposing new design concepts during brainstorming sessions. Simultaneously, they partnered with the Technology Transfer/Innovative Partnerships Program to research inflatable structures and dynamic scaffolding solutions that could enable ground operator access. While this creative, technology-oriented exploration was encouraged by upper management, some design stakeholders consistently opposed ideas utilizing novel, untested equipment. Subsequent collaboration with an engineering consulting firm improved the technical credibility of several options, however, there was continued resistance from team members focused on meeting system requirements with pre-certified hardware. After a six-month idea-generating phase, an intensive six-week effort produced viable design concepts that justified additional vehicle mass while optimizing the human factors of platform installation and use. Although these selected final concepts closely resemble heritage internal access platforms, challenges from the application of the

A large body of work in the clinical guidelines field has identified requirements for guideline systems, but there are formidable challenges in translating such requirements into production-quality systems that can be used in routine patient care. Detailed analysis of requirements from an implementation perspective can be useful in helping define sub-requirements to the point where they are implementable. Further, additional requirements emerge as a result of such analysis. During such an analysis, study of examples of existing, software-engineering efforts in non-biomedical fields can provide useful signposts to the implementer of a clinical guideline system. In addition to requirements described by guideline-system authors, comparative reviews of such systems, and publications discussing information needs for guideline systems and clinical decision support systems in general, we have incorporated additional requirements related to production-system robustness and functionality from publications in the business workflow domain, in addition to drawing on our own experience in the development of the Proteus guideline system (http://proteme.org). The sub-requirements are discussed by conveniently grouping them into the categories used by the review of Isern and Moreno 2008. We cite previous work under each category and then provide sub-requirements under each category, and provide example of similar work in software-engineering efforts that have addressed a similar problem in a non-biomedical context. When analyzing requirements from the implementation viewpoint, knowledge of successes and failures in related software-engineering efforts can guide implementers in the choice of effective design and development strategies.

Full Text Available Over the past 20 years there have been many changes to the primary and secondary educational system that have impacted students, teachers, and post-secondary institutions across the United States of America. One of the most important is the large number of standardized tests students are required to take to show adequate performance in school. Students think differently because they are taught differently due to this focus on standardized testing, thus changing the skill sets students acquire in secondary school. This presents a critical problem for colleges and universities, as they now are using practices for and have expectations of these students that are unrealistic for the changing times. High dropout rates in the colleges of engineering have been attributed to the cultural atmosphere of the institution. Students have reported a low sense of belonging and low relatability to course material. To reduce negative experiences and increase motivation, Challenge Based Learning (CBL was introduced in an undergraduate Basic Electric Circuits (BEC course. CBL is a structured model for course content with a foundation in problem-based learning. CBL offers general concepts from which students derive the challenges they will address. Results show an improved classroom experience for students who were taught with CBL.

Regeneration of myocardium through regenerative therapy and tissue engineering is appearing as a prospective treatment modality for patients with end-stage heart failure. Focusing on this area, this review highlights the new developments and challenges in the regeneration of myocardial tissue. The role of various cell sources, calcium ion and cytokine on the functional performance of regenerative therapy is discussed. The evolution of tissue engineering and the role of tissue matrix/scaffold, cell adhesion and vascularisation on tissue engineering of cardiac tissue implant are also discussed.

The oxidative coupling of methane to ethylene offers great industrial potential, because it would broaden the feedstock basis for chemical industry. Because methane is the most stable hydrocarbon, its activation requires high temperatures and it is a great scientific challenge to overcome the apparent yield limit of about 25%. This barrier has never been exceeded since the beginning of OCM research more than 20 years ago. Results and Discussion: This challenge is one of the key projects of the Cluster of Excellence UNICAT and requires joined efforts and contributions from many disciplines, because this reaction shows a combined surface/gas phase reaction mechanism which results in very unusual and complex dependencies on the reaction conditions. Although dozens of materials are known to catalyze the reaction, the selection of a catalyst suitable for an industrial process is difficult, due to severe stability problems of many materials. Li/MgO was chosen by the UNICAT-team as model catalyst, because of the extended literature about it. But it shows uncontrollable deactivation, no matter what precursor and method were used for its preparation. Nevertheless, it is a suitable catalyst for fundamental studies, due to its formal chemical simplicity. A key result of the joined research activities was the disproval of the Lunsford mechanism and the elucidation of the real function of lithium as a surface modifier creating a rough and defect-rich surface. For the development of an OCM process another catalyst, Na{sub 2}WO{sub 4}/Mn/SiO{sub 2}, was chosen from the rich literature on OCM. Although less is known about its structure and the reaction mechanism at this catalyst, its stability was the most important reason to select it for further engineering studies. Kinetic isotope measurements and studies in a TAP reactor demonstrate the similarity of the reaction mechanisms at both catalysts, despite the completely different materials. The selectivity is largely controlled by

The Linde FUSRAP Site (Linde) is located in Tonawanda, New York at a major research and development facility for Praxair, Inc. (Praxair). Successful remediation activities at Linde combines meeting cleanup objectives of radiological contamination while minimizing impacts to Praxair business operations. The unique use of Praxair's property coupled with an array of active and abandoned utilities poses many engineering and operational challenges; each of which has been overcome during the remedial action at Linde. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Buffalo District (USACE) and CABRERA SERVICES, INC. (CABRERA) have successfully faced engineeringchallenges such as relocation of an aboveground structure, structural protection of an active water line, and installation of active mechanical, electrical, and communication utilities to perform remediation. As remediation nears completion, continued success of engineeringchallenges is critical as remaining activities exist in the vicinity of infrastructure essential to business operations; an electrical substation and duct bank providing power throughout the Praxair facility. Emphasis on engineering and operations through final remediation and into site restoration will allow for the safe and successful completion of the project. (authors)

The Linde FUSRAP Site (Linde) is located in Tonawanda, New York at a major research and development facility for Praxair, Inc. (Praxair). Successful remediation activities at Linde combines meeting cleanup objectives of radiological contamination while minimizing impacts to Praxair business operations. The unique use of Praxair's property coupled with an array of active and abandoned utilities poses many engineering and operational challenges; each of which has been overcome during the remedial action at Linde. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Buffalo District (USACE) and CABRERA SERVICES, INC. (CABRERA) have successfully faced engineeringchallenges such as relocation of an aboveground structure, structural protection of an active water line, and installation of active mechanical, electrical, and communication utilities to perform remediation. As remediation nears completion, continued success of engineeringchallenges is critical as remaining activities exist in the vicinity of infrastructure essential to business operations; an electrical substation and duct bank providing power throughout the Praxair facility. Emphasis on engineering and operations through final remediation and into site restoration will allow for the safe and successful completion of the project. (authors)

Full Text Available Despite the advancements made in drug delivery systems over the years, many challenges remain in drug delivery systems for treating chronic diseases at the personalized medicine level. The current urgent need is to develop novel strategies for targeted therapy of chronic diseases. Due to their unique properties, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS technology has been recently engineered as implantable drug delivery systems for disease therapy. This review examines the challenges faced in implementing implantable MEMS drug delivery systems in vivo and the solutions available to overcome these challenges.

The number of technologies and consumer products that incorporate engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) has grown rapidly. Indeed, ENMs such as carbon nanotubes and nano-silver, are revolutionizing many commercial technologies and have already been incorporated into more than 800 commercial products, including polymer composites, cell phone batteries, sporting equipment and cosmetics. The global market for ENMs has grown steadily from 7.5 billion in 2003 to 12.7 billion in 2008. Over the next five years, their market value is expected to exceed $27 billion. This surge in demand has been responsible for a corresponding increase in the annual production rates of ENMs. For example, Bayer anticipates that single and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT and MWNT) production rates will reach 3,000 tons/yr by 2012. Inevitably, some of these synthetic materials will enter the environment either from incidental release during manufacture and transport, or following use and disposal. Consequently, intense scientific research is now being directed towards understanding the environmental, health and safety (EHS) risks posed by ENMs. I will highlight some of the key research challenges and needs in this area, include (i) developing structure-property relationships that will enable physicochemical properties of ENMs to be correlated with environmentally relevant behavior (e.g. colloidal properties, toxicity), (ii) determining the behavior of nanoproducts, and (iii) developing analytical techniques capable of detecting and quantifying the concentration of ENMs in the environment.

A new collegiate competition, called the Solar Decathlon, is under way. Fourteen teams from colleges and universities across the United States, including Puerto Rico, will assemble on the National Mall in Washington, DC, in late September 2002. They will compete to capture, convert, store, and use enough solar energy to power small, solar-powered, energy-efficient homes that they have designed, built, and transported to the site. Solar Decathletes will be required to provide all the energy for an entire household, including a home-based business and the transportation needs of the household and business. During the event, only the solar energy available within the perimeter of each house may be used to generate the power needed to compete in the ten Solar Decathlon contests. The event is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and private-sector partners BP Solar, American Institute of Architects, Electronic Data Systems, and Home Depot.

This educator guide is organized into seven chapters: (1) Overview; (2) The Design Challenge; (3) Connections to National Curriculum Standards; (4) Preparing to Teach; (5) Classroom Sessions; (6) Opportunities for Extension; and (7) Teacher Resources. Chapter 1 provides information about Environmental Control and Life Support Systems used on NASA…

important guarantee for success of the Programme. 2. To find out close relation between the courses to be studied and the above-mentioned demands of the country is a very important guarantee for success of the Programme. 3. To train up teaching staffs of high consciousness of responsibility and of a quality as high as possible is a key guarantee for success of the Programme. 4. To adapt the Programme for providing student knowledge which should be of a)- Wide enough profile (for heightening capacities of seeking jobs of graduated students in today labor market in the country), and b)- High enough quality (fore better integration and successful co-operation) is a necessary factor to attract students to the Programme. 5. To develop close contacts and cooperations with the related institutions in the country in order to make the Programme suitable and more attractive as well as to get a practical plan of using the young people trained-up by the Programme is another necessary factor for its success. 6. To establish and develop effective international co-operations is of extremely high importance in heightening level of teaching staffs and strengthening technical base for rapid and considerable improvement of the Programme quality. In the present period, especially after the Vietnam Prime-Minister signed in the beginning of the year 2006 to approve the strategy for development of peaceful uses of atomic energy in the country up to the year 2020, HUT's DONEEP has to face a number of challenges on its way to contribute considerably to meeting new demands of the country. The big challenges may be listed as follows: 1. Lack of suitable NEEP; 2. Lack of sufficient knowledge on nuclear power engineering and nuclear power safety; 3. Lack of experienced educators for running the NEEP; and 4. Lack of sufficient incentive to involve and to keep people to work for the Programme. For overcoming such serious challenges, the HUT is trying to make the following efforts: 1. Setting up a new

Engineers must take a leading role in addressing the challenges of mitigating climate change and adapting to the inevitable changes that our world is facing. Yet climate change classes targeting engineering students are scarce. Technical education must focus on the problem formulation and solutions that consider multiple, complex interactions between engineered systems and the Earth's climate system and recognize that transformation raises societal challenges, including trade-offs among benefits, costs, and risks. Moreover, improving engineering students' climate science literacy will require strategies that also inspire students' motivation to work toward their solution. A climate science course for engineers has been taught 5 semesters as part of a NASA Innovations in Climate Education program grant (NNXlOAB57A). The basic premise of this project was that effective instruction must incorporate scientifically-based knowledge and observations and foster critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making skills. Lecture, in-class cooperative and computer-based learning and a semester project provide the basis for engaging students in evaluating effective mitigation and adaptation solutions. Policy and social issues are integrated throughout many of the units. The objective of this presentation is to highlight the content and pedagogical approach used in this class that helped to contribute to significant gains in engineering students' climate literacy and critical thinking competencies. A total of 89 students fully participated in a pre/post climate literacy questionnaire. As a whole, students demonstrated significant gains in climate-related content knowledge (pproblem statements and solutions in a manner that incorporated a multidimensional systems perspective. These skills are sometimes foreign to technically focused, number crunching engineering students, but are critical for using their engineering skills and profession to address climate change mitigation

The use of epidermal stem cells and their progeny for tissue engineering and cell therapy represents a source of hope and major interest in view of applications such as replacing the loss of functionality in failing tissues or obtaining physiologic skin equivalents for skin grafting. The use of such cells necessitates the isolation and purification of rare populations of keratinocytes and then increasing their numbers by mass culture. This is not currently possible since part of the specific phenotype of these cells is lost once the cells are placed in culture. Furthermore, few techniques are available to unequivocally detect the presence of skin stem cells and/or their progeny in culture and thus quantify them. Two different sources of stem cells are currently being studied for skin research and clinical applications: skin progenitors either obtained from embryonic stem cells (ESC) or from selection from adult skin tissue. It has been shown that "keratinocyte-like" cells can be derived from ESC; however, the culturing processes must still be optimized to allow for the mass culture of homogeneous populations at a controlled stage of differentiation. The functional characterization of such populations must also be more thoroughly achieved. In order to use stem cells from adult tissues, improvements must be made in order to obtain a satisfactory degree of purification and characterization of this rare population. Distinguishing stem cells from progenitor cells at the molecular level also remains a challenge. Furthermore, stem cell research inevitably requires cultivating these cells outside their physiological environment or niche. It will thus be necessary to better understand the impact of this specific environmental niche on the preservation of the cellular phenotypes of interest.

Coastal aquifer systems are amongst the most precious and vulnerable water resources worldwide. While differing in lateral and vertical extent they commonly show a complex interaction with the marine realm. Excessive groundwater extraction can cause saltwater intrusion from the sea into the aquifers, having a strongly negative impact on the groundwater quality. While the reverse pathway, the discharge of groundwater into the sea is well understood in principle, it's mechanisms and quantities not well constrained. We will present a project that combines onshore monitoring and modeling of groundwater in the coastal plain of Salalah, Oman with an offshore autonomous robotic monitoring system, the Liquid Robotics Wave Glider. Eventually, fluxes detected by the Wave Glider system and the onshore monitoring of groundwater will be combined into a 3-D flow model of the coastal and deeper aquifers. The main tool for offshore SGD investigation project is a Wave Glider, an autonomous vehicle based on a new propulsion technology. The Wave Glider is a low-cost satellite-connected marine craft, consisting of a combination of a sea-surface and an underwater component which is propelled by the conversion of ocean wave energy into forward thrust. While the wave energy propulsion system is purely mechanical, electrical energy for onboard computers, communication and sensors is provided by photovoltaic cells. For the project the SGD Wave Glider is being equipped with dedicated sensors to measure temperature, conductivity, Radon isotope (222Rn, 220Rn) activity concentration as well as other tracers of groundwater discharge. Dedicated software using this data input will eventually allow the Wave Glider to autonomously collect information and actively adapt its search pattern to hunt for spatial and temporal anomalies. Our presentation will focus on the engineering and operational challenges ofdetecting submarine groundwater discharges with the Wave Glider system in the Bay of Salalah

Full Text Available In 1961, the National Institutes of Health (NIH began to circulate biological preprints in a forgotten experiment called the Information Exchange Groups (IEGs. This system eventually attracted over 3,600 participants and saw the production of over 2,500 different documents, but by 1967, it was effectively shut down following the refusal of journals to accept articles that had been circulated as preprints. This article charts the rise and fall of the IEGs and explores the parallels with the 1990s and the biomedical preprint movement of today.

In 1961, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) began to circulate biological preprints in a forgotten experiment called the Information Exchange Groups (IEGs). This system eventually attracted over 3,600 participants and saw the production of over 2,500 different documents, but by 1967, it was effectively shut down following the refusal of journals to accept articles that had been circulated as preprints. This article charts the rise and fall of the IEGs and explores the parallels with the 1990s and the biomedical preprint movement of today.

This book presents papers surrounding the extensive discussions that took place from the ‘Variational Analysis and Aerospace Engineering’ workshop held at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture in 2015. Contributions to this volume focus on advanced mathematical methods in aerospace engineering and industrial engineering such as computational fluid dynamics methods, optimization methods in aerodynamics, optimum controls, dynamic systems, the theory of structures, space missions, flight mechanics, control theory, algebraic geometry for CAD applications, and variational methods and applications. Advanced graduate students, researchers, and professionals in mathematics and engineering will find this volume useful as it illustrates current collaborative research projects in applied mathematics and aerospace engineering.

Completing its final development and early deployment on the Navy's multi-role aircraft, the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, the SHAred Reconnaissance Pod (SHARP) provides the war fighter with the latest digital tactical reconnaissance (TAC Recce) Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor system. The SHARP program is an evolutionary acquisition that used a spiral development process across a prototype development phase tightly coupled into overlapping Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) and Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phases. Under a tight budget environment with a highly compressed schedule, SHARP challenged traditional acquisition strategies and systems engineering (SE) processes. Adopting tailored state-of-the-art systems engineering process models allowd the SHARP program to overcome the technical knowledge transition challenges imposed by a compressed program schedule. The program's original goal was the deployment of digital TAC Recce mission capabilities to the fleet customer by summer of 2003. Hardware and software integration technical challenges resulted from requirements definition and analysis activities performed across a government-industry led Integrated Product Team (IPT) involving Navy engineering and test sites, Boeing, and RTSC-EPS (with its subcontracted hardware and government furnished equipment vendors). Requirements development from a bottoms-up approach was adopted using an electronic requirements capture environment to clarify and establish the SHARP EMD product baseline specifications as relevant technical data became available. Applying Earned-Value Management (EVM) against an Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) resulted in efficiently managing SE task assignments and product deliveries in a dynamically evolving customer requirements environment. Application of Six Sigma improvement methodologies resulted in the uncovering of root causes of errors in wiring interconnectivity drawings, pod manufacturing processes, and avionics

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) is an organisation building and operating nuclear power stations for which a number of different types of engineering services/activities are necessary. All these services are provided by Engineering Services Group of NPCIL. The activities and responsibilities of the group are discussed

Since its initial funding by the National Science Foundation in 2004, the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) has worked to understand the infusion of engineering design experiences into the high school setting. Over the years, an increasing number of educators and professional groups have participated in the expanding…

It is difficult to ignore the increased use of technological innovations in today's world, which has led to various calls for the integration of engineering into K-12 science standards. The need to understand how engineering is currently being brought to science classrooms is apparent and necessary in order to address these calls for integration.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the process of changing engineering universities towards sustainable development (SD). It outlines the types of changes needed, both in respect of approaches, visions, philosophies and cultural change, which are crucial for engineering universities which want to implement sustainable development as…

For more than a century, agricultural and biological engineers have provided major advances in science, engineering, and technology to increase food and fiber production to meet the demands of a rapidly growing global population. The land base for these technological advances has originated largely from forested lands, which have experienced dramatic declines over the...

The paper discusses the future role of Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) in contributing to integrated design of process, automation and human machine systems. Existing concepts and methods of Cognitive Systems Engineering do not integrate well with control theory and industrial automation tools...

Full Text Available Recently, The Tecnologico de Monterrey (ITESM in Mexico has launched the Tec21 Educational Model. It is a flexible model in its curriculum that promotes student participation in challenging and interactive learning experiences. At the undergraduate level, one of the central scopes of this model is addressing challenges by the student, to develop disciplinary and cross-disciplinary skills. Two institutional strategies have been implemented to reach the ultimate goal of the ITESM, to work in all careers under the Challenge Based Learning (CBL system: the innovation week (i-week and the innovation semester (i-semester. Here we report on the results of four i-week and one i-semester models implemented in 2016. The i-semester was carried out in conjunction with a training partner, the worldwide leader Pharmaceutical Company Boehringer Ingelheim. Thirteen Sustainable Development Engineering career students were immersed for a 14 week period into the strategies to solve real-life challenges in order to develop the contents of four different courses. Six teachers of the academic institution and four engineers from the Boehringer plant served as mentors. Continuous evaluations were carried out throughout the abilities examination and partial and final examinations were performed by both experts, from the company and from the University.

This paper presents the main features of the master-level programme in “EcoEnergy” offered as a full-time one year course at “Institut National Polytechnique of Toulouse” in order to provide engineers with a state-of-the-art education in the area of advanced energy technologies and systems. It is based on an original and equilibrated combination of process systems engineering and electrical engineering disciplines, with an interdisciplinary problem-solving approach necessary for identifying s...

This paper presents the main features of the master-level programme in “EcoEnergy” offered as a full-time one year course at “Institut National Polytechnique of Toulouse” in order to provide engineers with a state-of-the-art education in the area of advanced energy technologies and systems. It is based on an original and equilibrated combination of process systems engineering and electrical engineering disciplines, with an interdisciplinary problem-solving approach necessary for identifying s...

Full Text Available The cosmetic industry is among the first adaptors of nanotechnology through the use of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) to enhance the performance of their products and meet the customers’ needs. Recently, there have been increasing concerns from...

institution building where business and management competencies are incorporated to engineering curricula. By comparing experiences from early career alumni from educations that are results of moving engineering institutions into business, we analyze the consequences imposed by changing disciplinary...... of innovation. In the recent two decades, universities and other engineering institutions that are typically identified with technology development have expanded their research and teaching activities towards the business end of innovation. Purpose This paper investigates the new emergent trend in academic...... demarcations within academic and professional engineering knowledges. Theoretical and methodological framework The paper draws upon theoretical frameworks from Practice Theory (e.g. as developed by Theodore Schatzki, Stephen Kemmis et al.), and co-production and sociotechnical imaginaries from Science...

.... We call these mega-systems. This paper focuses on the engineering of this class of systems which is characterized by increasing scale, the nature and pace of change of the technologies involved, the complexity of system...

Vascular disease results in the decreased utility and decreased availability of autologus vascular tissue for small diameter (requires combined approaches from biomaterials science, cell biology, and translational medicine to develop feasible solutions with the requisite mechanical support, a non-fouling surface for blood flow, and tissue regeneration. Over the past two decades interest in blood vessel tissue engineering has soared on a global scale, resulting in the first clinical implants of multiple technologies, steady progress with several other systems, and critical lessons-learned. This review will highlight the current inadequacies of autologus and synthetic grafts, the engineering requirements for implantation of tissue-engineered grafts, and the current status of tissue-engineered blood vessel research.

Nanotechnology continues to produce a diversity of engineered nanomaterials (NMs), displaying novel physicochemical properties with applications in commercial, consumer, electronic, biomedical, energy, and environmental sectors. Nanotechnology has been referred to as the next in...

The nuclear industry, particularly utilities and their constructor, engineering and vendor agents, is faced with a surging increase in prudency management audits. Such audits are often a precedent condition to commencement of rate hearings. The engineer, as a prime nuclear participant, is called upon to demonstrate that the performance of the utility's team was a ''prudent'' expenditure of funds, and thus recoverable through increased rates. All aspects of the design, procurement and construction process are analyzed

Compressive sensing is a 5-year old theory that has already resulted in an extremely large number of publications in the literature and that has the potential to impact every field of engineering and applied science that has to do with data acquisition and processing. This paper introduces the mathematics, presents a simple demonstration of radiation dose reduction in x-ray CT imaging, and discusses potential application in nuclear science and engineering. (author)

This work explores the scaling effects for FPSE (free piston Stirling engines), which are known for their simple architecture and potentially high thermodynamic performances. Scaling laws are given and their potential for miniaturization is highlighted. A simple model which allows the design of the geometrical parameters of the heat exchangers, the regenerator and the masses of the pistons is proposed. It is based on the definition of six characteristic dimensionless groups. They are derived from the physics underlying the behavior of the free piston Stirling machine and their relevancy is backed up by comparisons between documented Stirling engines from the literature. Keeping constant values for each group throughout the scaling range theoretically ensures constant performance. The main losses of Stirling engine (heat conduction loss, reheat loss in the regenerator, pressure drop and gas-spring hysteresis) can be expressed as a function of the geometrical and operating parameters. Additionally, the consequences of leakage due to the manufacturing precision of pistons architectures are underlined. From the proposed scaling laws, potential power and efficiency of Stirling cycle engines at a millimeter scale can be anticipated. It appears that the power density increases with miniaturization. It is also shown that the dynamic masses related to the engine size are increased when scaling down and that the gap leakage presents the highest detrimental effects on the efficiency. These results call for dedicated architectures for micro-engines. - Highlights: • Similitude strategy is applied to Stirling engines and allows preliminary design. • New scaling laws are derived. • The power density can be increased with miniaturization. • The gap between the piston and casing is highly detrimental to the performances. • High engine operating pressure is required when miniaturizing

Surveyors, civil and geotechnical engineers are the typical users of professional grade GNSS receiver that is capable of achieving positioning accuracies of sub-centimetre and navigation accuracies of 1-2cm. When choosing the equipment for their needs, they are often faced with a dilemma with each additional frequency, constellation and feature coming at a cost, resulting in professional GNSS equipment being regarded as high-priced specialist equipment. Indeed there are many users that have discounted GNSS on the grounds that it is too expensive and too operationally complex to warrant purchase. Having identified this situation, Nottingham Scientific Ltd (NSL) set about the development of equipment that would break down this barrier making high accuracy GNSS affordable to new users and applications and more cost effective to existing users. NSL created "STICK" which is a single frequency, multi-constellation, IMU-integrated GNSS sensor for precise movement detection of the natural and built environments and infrastructures, at approximately 1/20th of the price of a professional grade GNSS system. STICK has been developed within the context of three European Space Agency (ESA) Integrated Applications Programme Demonstration projects that use space assets to monitor the land stability and the status of different types of infrastructure, each with its own operational challenges. However through the careful selection of components, the implementation of certain operational constraints and the use of advanced statistical data processing, sub-centimetre positioning can be achieved for monitoring purposes. This paper describes STICK, the applications for which it has been developed, and the environments within which it is operating. We then explore the performance by directly comparing STICK to geodetic GNSS receivers setup in an operational, test bed environment. This test bed allows the receivers/antennas to be subjected to a three-dimensional displacement in the order

Oxidoreductases are ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze an extensive range of chemical reactions with great specificity, efficiency, and selectivity. Most oxidoreductases are nicotinamide cofactor-dependent enzymes with a strong preference for NADP or NAD. Because these coenzymes differ in stability, bioavailability and costs, the enzyme preference for a specific coenzyme is an important issue for practical applications. Different approaches for the manipulation of coenzyme specificity have been reported, with different degrees of success. Here we present various attempts for the switching of nicotinamide coenzyme preference in oxidoreductases by protein engineering. This review covers 103 enzyme engineering studies from 82 articles and evaluates the accomplishments in terms of coenzyme specificity and catalytic efficiency compared to wild type enzymes of different classes. We analyzed different protein engineering strategies and related them with the degree of success in inverting the cofactor specificity. In general, catalytic activity is compromised when coenzyme specificity is reversed, however when switching from NAD to NADP, better results are obtained. In most of the cases, rational strategies were used, predominantly with loop exchange generating the best results. In general, the tendency of removing acidic residues and incorporating basic residues is the strategy of choice when trying to change specificity from NAD to NADP, and vice versa . Computational strategies and algorithms are also covered as helpful tools to guide protein engineering strategies. This mini review aims to give a general introduction to the topic, giving an overview of tools and information to work in protein engineering for the reversal of coenzyme specificity.

The objective of the Subseabed Disposal Program is to assess the feasibility of disposing of high-level radioactive wastes or spent fuel in suitable geologic formations beneath the deep ocean floor. The program is entering a phase which will address engineering feasibility. While the current phase of the program to determine the scientific and environmental feasibility of the concept is not yet complete, activities to assess the engineering aspects are being initiated in parallel to facilitate the development of the concept on a time scale commensurate with other related programs both in the United States and abroad. It is anticipated that engineering aspects will become the central focus of the program during the early 80's and will continue so through the establishment of a pilot-plant level activity which could occur by the mid-90's

The objective of the Subseabed Disposal Program is to assess the feasibility of disposing of high-level radioactive wastes or spent fuel in suitable geologic formations beneath the deep ocean floor. The program is entering a phase which will address engineering feasibility. While the current phase of the program to determine the scientific and environmental feasibility of the concept is not yet complete, activities to assess the engineering aspects are being initiated in parallel to facilitate the development of the concept on a time scale commensurate with related programs both in the United States and abroad. It is anticipated that engineering aspects will become the central focus of the program during the early 80's and will continue so through the establishment of a pilot-plant level activity which could occur by the mid-90's

Propionibacteria are actinobacteria consisting of two principal groups: cutaneous and dairy. Cutaneous propionibacteria are considered primary pathogens to humans, whereas dairy propionibacteria are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Increasing attention has been focused on improving the performance of dairy propionibacteria for the production of industrially important chemicals, and significant advances have been made through strain engineering and process optimization in the production of flavor compounds, nutraceuticals, and antimicrobial compounds. In addition, genome sequencing of several propionibacteria species has been completed, deepening understanding of the metabolic and physiological features of these organisms. However, the metabolic engineering of propionibacteria still faces several challenges owing to the lack of efficient genome manipulation tools and the existence of various types of strong restriction-modification systems. The emergence of systems and synthetic biology provides new opportunities to overcome these bottlenecks. In this review, we first introduce the major species of propionibacteria and their properties and provide an overview of their functions and applications. We then discuss advances in the genome sequencing and metabolic engineering of these bacteria. Finally, we discuss systems and synthetic biology approaches for engineering propionibacteria as efficient and robust cell factories for the production of industrially important chemicals.

Companies who operate in highly regulated industries have further challenges to the usual competition, continuous cost reduction and product development challenges. To address these requirements companies optimise their business processes and change their applications and information systems to support their evolving way of doing business. Workflow management technology eases the achievement of these necessities by providing methodologies, software and tools to support business process mo...

Software-engineering education programs are intended to prepare students for a field that involves rapidly changing conditions and expectations. Thus, there is always a danger that the skills and the knowledge provided may soon become obsolete. This paper describes results and draws on experiences from the implementation of a computer…

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center, Dryden Flight Research Center, and their partners at other NASA centers and in private industry are currently developing X-33, a prototype to test technologies for the next generation of space transportation. This single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch…

The engineering programme in Arctic Technology from the Technical University of Denmark enrols students from Greenland and Denmark. Since the Greenlandic students underperformed and had a high drop-out rate, several initiatives have been initiated to help the weak Greenlandic students. The result...

NASA formed the NASA Engineering and Safety Center in 2003 following the Space Shuttle Columbia accident. It is an Agency level, program-independent engineering resource supporting NASA's missions, programs, and projects. It functions to identify, resolve, and communicate engineering issues, risks, and, particularly, alternative technical opinions, to NASA senior management. The goal is to help ensure fully informed, risk-based programmatic and operational decision-making processes. To date, the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) has conducted or is actively working over 600 technical studies and projects, spread across all NASA Mission Directorates, and for various other U.S. Government and non-governmental agencies and organizations. Since inception, NESC human spaceflight related activities, in particular, have transitioned from Shuttle Return-to-Flight and completion of the International Space Station (ISS) to ISS operations and Orion Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), Space Launch System (SLS), and Commercial Crew Program (CCP) vehicle design, integration, test, and certification. This transition has changed the character of NESC studies. For these development programs, the NESC must operate in a broader, system-level design and certification context as compared to the reactive, time-critical, hardware specific nature of flight operations support.

Full Text Available Synthetic Biology (SB aims at the rational design and engineering of novel biological functions and systems. By facilitating the engineering of living organisms, SB promises to facilitate the development of many new applications for health, biomanufacturing, and the environment. Over the last decade, SB promoted the construction of libraries of components enabling the fine-tuning of genetic circuits expression and the development of novel genome engineering methodologies for many organisms of interest. SB thus opened new perspectives in the field of metabolic engineering, which was until then mainly limited to (overproducing naturally synthesized metabolic compounds. To engineer efficient cell factories, it is key to precisely reroute cellular resources from the central carbon metabolism (CCM to the synthetic circuitry. This task is however difficult as there is still significant lack of knowledge regarding both the function of several metabolic components and the regulation of the CCM fluxes for many industrially important bacteria. Pyruvate is a pivotal metabolite at the heart of the CCM and a key precursor for the synthesis of several commodity compounds and fine chemicals. Numerous bacterial species can also use it as a carbon source when present in the environment but bacterial, pyruvate-specific uptake systems were to be discovered. This is an issue for metabolic engineering as one can imagine to make use of pyruvate transport systems to replenish synthetic metabolic pathways towards the synthesis of chemicals of interest. Here we describe a recent study (MBio 8(5: e00976-17, which identified and characterized a pyruvate transport system in the Gram-positive (G+ve bacterium Bacillus subtilis, a well-established biotechnological workhorse for the production of enzymes, fine chemicals and antibiotics. This study also revealed that the activity of the two-component system (TCS responsible for its induction is retro-inhibited by the level of

This paper describes the use of diverse software tools in cardiovascular applications. These tools were primarily developed in the field of engineering and the applications presented push the boundaries of the software to address events related to venous and arterial valve closure, exploration of dynamic boundary conditions or the inclusion of multi-scale boundary conditions from protein to organ levels. The future of cardiovascular research and the challenges that modellers and clinicians face from validation to clinical uptake are discussed from an end-user perspective.

This paper first provides a summary of the history and current status of the Elmo Bumpy Torus (EBT) fusion concept. A brief description of the EBT-P is then provided in which the many unique features of this fusion device are highlighted. This description will provide the technical background for the following discussions of some of the more challenging mechanical engineering problems encountered to date in the evolution of the EBT-P design. The problems discussed are: optimization of the device primary structure design, optimization of the superconducting magnet x-ray shield design, design of the liquid helium supply and distribution system, and selection of high vacuum seals and pumps and their protection from the high power microwave environment. The common challenge in each of these design issues was to assure adequate performance at minimum cost

From the days of Pong to 100 million dollar projects such as the Grand Theft Auto franchise, video games have evolved significantly over the years. This evolution has also changed the way game development is viewed as a career. Today, video games are one of the most profitable forms of entertainment, and game development courses are appearing at universities around the world. Even with this growth, a degree from a university has yet to be an important factor in finding a job in game development (Owen, 2013). This thesis examines a method of creating and implementing an introductory gaming course and recommends ways to improve the curriculum. The main focus of the course was to introduce game development to the students. Each week, they were given an exercise that covered a different topic. Students also took part in a team project in which they were tasked with creating a complete game. The goal of the team projects was to expand the student's basic knowledge given to them from the exercises. Data was gathered on the students' subjective experiences with the class. This data and the class's overall performance were compared with past iterations of the course. New to the course was the Unreal Engine. Students used the latest version of the engine, Unreal Engine 4, to complete exercises. Not all students chose to use this engine for the team project. Instructor and students experiences with the engine were also recorded. While there were some problems implementing the engine within our lab environment, we were still able to execute the overall lesson plan. Even with the engine issues, the course had overall good performance. CGT 241, Introduction to 3D Animation, was shown to help the students to complete the course while CGT 215, Computer Graphics Programming I, did not provide enough information on game programming. Exercises were found to be helpful but students wanted a better understanding of how these skills can be applied to game development. Team projects

In this presentation, an overview of the research being conducted by the ERA Project in Ultra High Bypass aircraft propulsion and in partnership with Pratt & Whitney with their Geared TurboFan (GTF) is given. The ERA goals are shown followed by a discussion of what areas need to be addressed on the engine to achieve the goals and how the GTF is uniquely qualified to meet the goals through a discussion of what benefits the cycle provides. The first generation GTF architecture is then shown highlighting the areas of collaboration with NASA, and the fuel burn, noise and emissions reductions possible based on initial static ground test and flight test data of the first GTF engine. Finally, a 5 year technology roadmap is presented focusing on Ultra High Bypass propulsion technology research areas that are being pursued and being planned by ERA and P&W under their GTF program.

Full Text Available Although the vast majority of research in human-computer interaction involves only our senses of sight and hearing, with sporadic forays into touch, future laboratories used in engineering education will mostly benefit from developments beyond video and sound. Tangible and embedded interaction, augmented and mixed reality characterizes ultimate technologies for further applications in collaborative remote engineering and lab work. This paper presents our latest research to facilitate collaborative experimentation with such innovative technologies. Our vision is a collaborative learning space, which involves an amalgam of real, virtual and remote lab tools to support a wide spectrum of simple and complex, concrete and abstract, safe and dangerous experimentation settings. We will review related concepts and discuss lessons learned from our research and prototype development. Recent work involves the use of mixed reality (as opposed to ‘pure’ virtual reality techniques to support seamless collaborative work between remote sites. We describe this and identify areas for future research.

Spectral imaging is a technology that integrates conventional imaging and spectroscopy to get both spatial and spectral information from an object. Although this technology was originally developed for remote sensing, it has been extended to the biomedical engineering field as a powerful analytical tool for biological and biomedical research. This review introduces the basics of spectral imaging, imaging methods, current equipment, and recent advances in biomedical applications. The performance and analytical capabilities of spectral imaging systems for biological and biomedical imaging are discussed. In particular, the current achievements and limitations of this technology in biomedical engineering are presented. The benefits and development trends of biomedical spectral imaging are highlighted to provide the reader with an insight into the current technological advances and its potential for biomedical research.

Chemical processing industry is progressively focusing their research activities and product placements in the areas of Grand Challenges (or Global Megatrends) such as mobility, energy, communication, or health care and food. Innovation in all these fields requires solving high complex problems, rapid product development as well as dealing with…

Many people from generation Z are at the beginning of their academic activities. This generation has peculiar characteristics that might be a challenge in the labor market. Thus, instructors have a great role in their preparation. However, professors might face difficulties dealing with their specific characteristics. The research aims to carry…

Research communications today are largely conducted by digital means. At this time, however, only a small percentage of these digital communiques are archived and preserved for future use. This article provides an overview of the challenge of this digital grey literature, a brief overview of digital archiving, and the role librarians and…

In the conversion of the most important chemical raw materials, natural oil and natural gas, to intermediate or end products, selective catalytic oxidation plays an increasing role. This method makes it possible in many cases to use more economical, single-step processes instead of the older multi-step processes. Using the typical example of propylene oxidation or ammonoxidation, the problems encountered by chemical engineers in the development of a heterogeneous-catalytic method of oxidation are demonstrated. The importance of systematic catalyst development is stressed. General aspects of the development of novel processes or the improvement of existing catalytic processes are discussed.

"This book covers the ever-increasing problem of information overload from both the professional and academic perspectives. Focusing on the needs of practicing engineers and professional communicators, it addresses the causes and costs of information overload, along with strategies and techniques for reducing and minimizing its negative effects. The theoretical framework of information overload and ideas for future research are also presented. The book brings together an international group of authors, providing a truly global point of view on this important, rarely covered topic"--

We cover a top-level introduction to hardness assurance (HA) from a robotic space system perspective, starting at the piece-part level. We discuss error sources inherent to presently-accepted HA practices and why they cause us to be risk-averse. We conclude by reviewing current proposals that move towards more risk-tolerant system design approaches as well as future challenges that will require these advanced techniques.

The ability to precisely modify genome sequence and regulate gene expression patterns in a site-specific manner holds much promise in plant biotechnology. Genome-engineering technologies that enable such highly specific and efficient modification are advancing with unprecedented pace. Transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) provide customizable DNA-binding modules designed to bind to any sequence of interest. Thus, TALEs have been used as a DNA targeting module fused to functional domains for a variety of targeted genomic and epigenomic modifications. TALE nucleases (TALENs) have been used with much success across eukaryotic species to edit genomes. Recently, clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) that are used as guide RNAs for Cas9 nuclease-specific digestion has been introduced as a highly efficient DNA-targeting platform for genome editing and regulation. Here, we review the discovery, development and limitations of TALENs and CRIPSR/Cas9 systems as genome-engineering platforms in plants. We discuss the current questions, potential improvements and the development of the next-generation genome-editing platforms with an emphasis on producing designer plants to address the needs of agriculture and basic plant biology.

Stem cells, irrespective of their origin, have emerged as valuable reagents or tools in human health in the past 2 decades. Initially, a research tool to study fundamental aspects of developmental biology is now the central focus of generating transgenic animals, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine to address degenerative diseases of multiple organ systems. This is because stem cells are pluripotent or multipotent cells that can recapitulate developmental paths to repair damaged tissues. However, it is becoming clear that stem cell therapy alone may not be adequate to reverse tissue and organ damage in degenerative diseases. Existing small-molecule drugs and biologicals may be needed as "molecular adjuvants" or enhancers of stem cells administered in therapy or adult stem cells in the diseased tissues. Hence, a combination of stem cell-based, high-throughput screening and 3D tissue engineering approaches is necessary to advance the next wave of tools in preclinical drug discovery. In this review, the authors have attempted to provide a basic account of various stem cells types, as well as their biology and signaling, in the context of research in regenerative medicine. An attempt is made to link stem cells as reagents, pharmacology, and tissue engineering as converging fields of research for the next decade.

The ability to precisely modify genome sequence and regulate gene expression patterns in a site-specific manner holds much promise in plant biotechnology. Genome-engineering technologies that enable such highly specific and efficient modification are advancing with unprecedented pace. Transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) provide customizable DNA-binding modules designed to bind to any sequence of interest. Thus, TALEs have been used as a DNA targeting module fused to functional domains for a variety of targeted genomic and epigenomic modifications. TALE nucleases (TALENs) have been used with much success across eukaryotic species to edit genomes. Recently, clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) that are used as guide RNAs for Cas9 nuclease-specific digestion has been introduced as a highly efficient DNA-targeting platform for genome editing and regulation. Here, we review the discovery, development and limitations of TALENs and CRIPSR/Cas9 systems as genome-engineering platforms in plants. We discuss the current questions, potential improvements and the development of the next-generation genome-editing platforms with an emphasis on producing designer plants to address the needs of agriculture and basic plant biology.

The current changes in the energy sector, especially the electricity sector, have also significantly affected industry and engineering. The ever increasing liberalization of the sector has led to a demand for turnkey installations in regime of free competition. Several electric utilities are developing their own engineering companies, and so the traditional role of the independent A/Es, in relation to their capacity, is heading towards technical support and the provision of different services in very specialized fields, as well as towards providing services to less evolved electric utilities and miscellaneous independent power producers (IPPs). Nevertheless, a promising area for A/Es is the sharing of the risk involved in building turnkey power plants in cooperation with other industrial firms for which they have to improve their financial strengths. In the nuclear sector, the slowdown in the construction of new power plants reduces the volume of services required of A/Es. Maintaining a presence in this sector is being complemented with providing support to the operation and improvement of existing power plants in western countries, participation in the development of advanced power plant programmes, and improvement of the power plants operating in the former Soviet Union. Collaboration in projects dealing with development of renewable energy, fuel cells, nuclear fusion, etc, offers possibilities of great technological interest for the present and for the future of A/Es, which will benefit from diversification into other areas which have some technological similarity. (Author)

Biomining with acidophilic microorganisms has been used at commercial scale for the extraction of metals from various sulfide ores. With metal demand and energy prices on the rise and the concurrent decline in quality and availability of mineral resources, there is an increasing interest in applying biomining technology, in particular for leaching metals from low grade minerals and wastes. However, bioprocessing is often hampered by the presence of inhibitory compounds that originate from complex ores. Synthetic biology could provide tools to improve the tolerance of biomining microbes to various stress factors that are present in biomining environments, which would ultimately increase bioleaching efficiency. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art tools to genetically modify acidophilic biomining microorganisms and the limitations of these tools. The first part of this review discusses resilience pathways that can be engineered in acidophiles to enhance their robustness and tolerance in harsh environments that prevail in bioleaching. The second part of the paper reviews the efforts that have been carried out towards engineering robust microorganisms and developing metabolic modelling tools. Novel synthetic biology tools have the potential to transform the biomining industry and facilitate the extraction of value from ores and wastes that cannot be processed with existing biomining microorganisms. PMID:29466321

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NREL are developing target energy budgets and design guides to achieve 30% energy savings. This paper focuses the design guide for one type of barracks called unaccompanied enlisted personal housing.

There are seven antigenically distinct serotypes of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), each of which has intratypic variants. In the present study, we have developed methods to efficiently generate promising vaccines against seven serotypes or subtypes. The capsid-encoding gene (P1) of the vaccine strain O1/Manisa/Turkey/69 was replaced with the amplified or synthetic genes from the O, A, Asia1, C, SAT1, SAT2, and SAT3 serotypes. Viruses of the seven serotype were rescued successfully. Each chimeric FMDV with a replacement of P1 showed serotype-specific antigenicity and varied in terms of pathogenesis in pigs and mice. Vaccination of pigs with an experimental trivalent vaccine containing the inactivated recombinants based on the main serotypes O, A, and Asia1 effectively protected them from virus challenge. This technology could be a potential strategy for a customized vaccine with challenge tools to protect against epizootic disease caused by specific serotypes or subtypes of FMDV. IMPORTANCE Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus (FMDV) causes significant economic losses. For vaccine preparation, the selection of vaccine strains was complicated by high antigenic variation. In the present study, we suggested an effective strategy to rapidly prepare and evaluate mass-produced customized vaccines against epidemic strains. The P1 gene encoding the structural proteins of the well-known vaccine virus was replaced by the synthetic or amplified genes of viruses of seven representative serotypes. These chimeric viruses generally replicated readily in cell culture and had a particle size similar to that of the original vaccine strain. Their antigenicity mirrored that of the original serotype from which their P1 gene was derived. Animal infection experiments revealed that the recombinants varied in terms of pathogenicity. This strategy will be a useful tool for rapidly generating customized FMD vaccines or challenge viruses for all serotypes, especially for FMD-free countries

Full Text Available Large scale production of H2, a clean fuel, can be realized with just water and solar light energy by employing a viable energy conversion device called artificial leaf. In this tutorial review, we discuss on advances achieved recently and technical challenges remained toward the creation of such a leaf. Development of key components like catalysts for water electrolysis process and light harvester for harvesting solar energy as well as strategies being developed for assembling these components to create a complete artificial leaf will be highlighted.

Recent NASA funded studies by Boeing and Douglas suggest an opportunity exists for a 21st Century High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) to become part of the international air transportation system. However, before this opportunity for high speed travel can be realized, certain environmental and and economic barrier issues must be overcome. These challenges are outlined. Research activities which NASA has planned to address these barrier issues and to provide a technology base to allow U.S. manufacturers to make an informed go/no go decision on developing the HSCT are discussed.

To establish a set of guidelines for developing ambulatory chemotherapy preprinted orders. Multiple methods were used to develop the preprinted order guidelines. These included (A) a comprehensive literature review and an environmental scan; (B) analyses of field study observations and incident reports; (C) critical review of evidence from the literature and the field study observation analyses; (D) review of the draft guidelines by a clinical advisory group; and (E) collaboration with graphic designers to develop sample preprinted orders, refine the design guidelines, and format the resulting content. The Guidelines for Developing Ambulatory Chemotherapy Preprinted Orders, which consist of guidance on the design process, content, and graphic design elements of ambulatory chemotherapy preprinted orders, have been established. Health care is a safety critical, dynamic, and complex sociotechnical system. Identifying safety risks in such a system and effectively addressing them often require the expertise of multiple disciplines. This study illustrates how human factors professionals, clinicians, and designers can leverage each other's expertise to uncover commonly overlooked patient safety hazards and to provide health care professionals with innovative, practical, and user-centered tools to minimize those hazards.

Selective catalytic oxidation is beginning to play a more and more significant role in the process of converting the most important chemical raw materials, crude oil and natural gas, into intermediate and end products. In many cases, this technique makes it possible to replace old processes consisting of many steps by more economical single-step reactions. The typical example of oxidation or ammoxidation of propylene demonstrates the problems which must be solved by the chemical engineer during the development of a heterogeneous catalytic oxidation process. The particular importance of a systematic development of a catalyst is emphasized. General aspects relating to the design of new catalytic processes, or the improvement of existing ones are also discussed.

The notation for vector analysis has a contentious nineteenth century history, with many different notations describing the same or similar concepts competing for use. While the twentieth century has seen a great deal of unification in vector analysis notation, variation still remains. In this paper, the two primary notations used for expressing the components of a vector are discussed in historical and current context. Popular mathematical texts use the two notations as if they are transparent and interchangeable. In this research project, engineering students' proficiency at vector analysis was assessed and the data were analyzed using the Rasch measurement method. Results indicate that the students found items expressed in unit vector notation more difficult than those expressed in parenthesis notation. The expert experience of notation as transparent and unproblematically symbolic of underlying processes independent of notation is shown to contrast with the student experience where the less familiar notation is experienced as harder to work with.

Full Text Available The potential environmental impact of nanomaterials is a critical concern and the ability to assess these potential impacts is top priority for the progress of sustainable nanotechnology. Risk assessment tools are needed to enable decision makers to rapidly assess the potential risks that may be imposed by engineered nanomaterials (ENMs, particularly when confronted by the reality of limited hazard or exposure data. In this review, we examine a range of available risk assessment frameworks considering the contexts in which different stakeholders may need to assess the potential environmental impacts of ENMs. Assessment frameworks and tools that are suitable for the different decision analysis scenarios are then identified. In addition, we identify the gaps that currently exist between the needs of decision makers, for a range of decision scenarios, and the abilities of present frameworks and tools to meet those needs.

Smartphones have an enormous conceptual and structural influence on measurement science and education, instrumentation and training. Smartphones are matured. They became convenient, reliable and affordable. In 2009 worldwide 174 million Smartphones has been delivered. Measurement with Smartphones is ready for the future. In only 10 years the German vision industry tripled its global sales volume to one Billion Euro/Year. Machine vision is used for mobile object identification, contactless industrial quality control, personalized health care, remote facility and transport management, safety critical surveillance and all tasks which are too complex for the human eye or too monotonous for the human brain. Aim of the paper is to describe selected success stories for the application of Smartphones for measurement engineering in science and education, instrumentation and training.

Smartphones have an enormous conceptual and structural influence on measurement science and education, instrumentation and training. Smartphones are matured. They became convenient, reliable and affordable. In 2009 worldwide 174 million Smartphones has been delivered. Measurement with Smartphones is ready for the future. In only 10 years the German vision industry tripled its global sales volume to one Billion Euro/Year. Machine vision is used for mobile object identification, contactless industrial quality control, personalized health care, remote facility and transport management, safety critical surveillance and all tasks which are too complex for the human eye or too monotonous for the human brain. Aim of the paper is to describe selected success stories for the application of Smartphones for measurement engineering in science and education, instrumentation and training.

The potential environmental impact of nanomaterials is a critical concern and the ability to assess these potential impacts is top priority for the progress of sustainable nanotechnology. Risk assessment tools are needed to enable decision makers to rapidly assess the potential risks that may be imposed by engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), particularly when confronted by the reality of limited hazard or exposure data. In this review, we examine a range of available risk assessment frameworks considering the contexts in which different stakeholders may need to assess the potential environmental impacts of ENMs. Assessment frameworks and tools that are suitable for the different decision analysis scenarios are then identified. In addition, we identify the gaps that currently exist between the needs of decision makers, for a range of decision scenarios, and the abilities of present frameworks and tools to meet those needs. PMID:28546894

Several low-btu gas plays can be defined by mapping gas quality by geological horizon in the Midcontinent. Some of the more inviting plays include Permian strata west of the Central Kansas uplift and on the eastern flank of Hugoton field and Mississippi chat and other pays that subcrop beneath (and directly overlie) the basal Pennsylvanian angular unconformity at the southern end of the Central Kansas uplift. Successful development of these plays will require the cooperation of reservoir geologists and process engineers so that the gas can be economically upgraded and sold at a nominal pipeline quality of 950 btu/scf or greater. Nitrogen is the major noncombustible contaminant in these gas fields, and various processes can be utilized to separate it from the hydrocarbon gases. Helium, which is usually found in percentages corresponding to nitrogen, is a possible ancillary sales product in this region. Its separation from the nitrogen, of course, requires additional processing. The engineering solution for low-btu gas depends on the rates, volumes, and chemistry of the gas needing upgrading. Cryogenic methods of nitrogen removal are classically used for larger feed volumes, but smaller feed volumes characteristic of isolated, low-pressure gas fields can now be handled by available small-scale PSA technologies. Operations of these PSA plants are now downscaled for upgrading stripper well gas production. Any nitrogen separation process should be sized, within reason, to match the anticipated flow rate. If the reservoir rock surprises to the upside, the modularity of the upgrading units is critical, for they can be stacked to meet higher volumes. If a reservoir disappoints (and some will), modularity allows the asset to be moved to another site without breaking the bank.

Studies are in a very early design stage to establish a modular concept High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) plant of about 100-MW(e) size to meet the special needs of small energy users in the industrialized and developing nations. The basic approach is to design a small system in which, even under the extreme conditions of loss of reactor pressure and loss of forced core cooling, the temperature would remain low enough so that the fuel would retain essentially all the fission products and the owner's investment would not be jeopardized. To realize economic goals, the designer faces the challenge of providing a standardized nuclear heat source, relying on a high percentage of factory fabrication to reduce site construction time, and keeping the system simple. While the proposed nuclear plant concept embodies new features, there is a large technology base to draw upon for the design of a small HTGR

3D City modelling is increasingly popular and becoming valuable tools in managing big cities. Urban and energy planning, landscape, noise-sewage modelling, underground mapping and navigation are among the applications/fields which really depend on 3D modelling for their effectiveness operations. Several research areas and implementation projects had been carried out to provide the most reliable 3D data format for sharing and functionalities as well as visualization platform and analysis. For instance, BIMTAS company has recently completed a project to estimate potential solar energy on 3D buildings for the whole Istanbul and now focussing on 3D utility underground mapping for a pilot case study. The research and implementation standard on 3D City Model domain (3D data sharing and visualization schema) is based on CityGML schema version 2.0. However, there are some limitations and issues in implementation phase for large dataset. Most of the limitations were due to the visualization, database integration and analysis platform (Unity3D game engine) as highlighted in this paper.

The design and construction of a wide-aperture, superconducting quadrupole magnet for the LHC insertion region is part of a study towards a luminosity upgrade of the LHC at CERN. The engineering design of components and tooling, the procurement, and the construction work presented in this paper includes innovative features such as more porous cable insulation, a new collar structure allowing horizontal assembly with a hydraulic collaring press, tuning shims for the adjustment of field quality, a fishbone like structure for the ground-plane insulation, and an improved quench-heater design. Rapid prototyping of coil-end spacers and trial-coil winding led to improved shapes, thus avoiding the need to impregnate the ends with epoxy resin, which would block the circulation of helium. The magnet construction follows established procedures for the curing and assembly of the coils, in order to match the workflow established in CERN’s ”large magnet facility.” This requirement led to the design and procurement of...

Full Text Available 3D City modelling is increasingly popular and becoming valuable tools in managing big cities. Urban and energy planning, landscape, noise-sewage modelling, underground mapping and navigation are among the applications/fields which really depend on 3D modelling for their effectiveness operations. Several research areas and implementation projects had been carried out to provide the most reliable 3D data format for sharing and functionalities as well as visualization platform and analysis. For instance, BIMTAS company has recently completed a project to estimate potential solar energy on 3D buildings for the whole Istanbul and now focussing on 3D utility underground mapping for a pilot case study. The research and implementation standard on 3D City Model domain (3D data sharing and visualization schema is based on CityGML schema version 2.0. However, there are some limitations and issues in implementation phase for large dataset. Most of the limitations were due to the visualization, database integration and analysis platform (Unity3D game engine as highlighted in this paper.

The cosmetic industry is among the first adaptors of nanotechnology through the use of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) to enhance the performance of their products and meet the customers' needs. Recently, there have been increasing concerns from different societal stakeholders (e.g., governments, environmental activist pressure groups, scientists, general public, etc.) concerning the safety and environmental impact of ENPs used in cosmetics. This review paper seeks to address the twin concerns of the safety of cosmetics and the potential environmental impacts due to the constituent chemicals-the ENPs. The safety aspect is addressed by examining recently published scientific data on the possibility of ENPs penetrating human skin. Data indicates that although particular types of ENPs can penetrate into the skin, until now no penetration has been detected beyond the stratum corneum of the ENPs used in cosmetics. Yet, important lessons can be learned from the more recent studies that identify the characteristics of ENPs penetrating into and permeating through human skin. On the part of the environmental impact, the scientific literature has very limited or none existent specific articles addressing the environmental impacts of ENPs owing to the cosmetic products. Therefore, general ecotoxicological data on risk assessment of ENPs has been applied to ascertain if there are potential environmental impacts from cosmetics. Results include some of the first studies on the qualitative and quantitative risk assessment of ENPs from cosmetics and suggest that further research is required as the knowledge is incomplete to make definitive conclusions as is the case with skin penetration. The authors conclude that the cosmetic industry should be more transparent in its use of nanotechnology in cosmetic products to facilitate realistic risk assessments as well as scientists and pressure groups being accurate in their conclusions on the general applicability of their findings

Full Text Available Geotechnical asset owners need to know which parts of their asset network are vulnerable to climate change induced failure in order to optimise future investment. Protecting these vulnerable slopes requires monitoring systems capable of identifying and alerting to asset operators changes in the internal conditions that precede failure. Current monitoring systems are heavily reliant on point sensors which can be difficult to interpret across slope scale. This paper presents challenges to producing such a system and research being carried out to address some of these using electrical resistance tomography (ERT. Experimental results show that whilst it is possible to measure soil water content indirectly via resistivity the relationship between resistivity and water content will change over time for a given slope. If geotechnical parameters such as pore water pressure are to be estimated using this method then ERT systems will require integrating with more conventional geotechnical instrumentation to ensure correct representative information is provided. The paper also presents examples of how such data can be processed and communicated to asset owners for the purposes of asset management.

The research paradigm in biomaterials science and engineering is evolving from using low-throughput and iterative experimental designs towards high-throughput experimental designs for materials optimization and the evaluation of materials properties. Computational science plays an important role in this transition. With the emergence of the omics approach in the biomaterials field, referred to as materiomics, high-throughput approaches hold the promise of tackling the complexity of materials and understanding correlations between material properties and their effects on complex biological systems. The intrinsic complexity of biological systems is an important factor that is often oversimplified when characterizing biological responses to materials and establishing property-activity relationships. Indeed, in vitro tests designed to predict in vivo performance of a given biomaterial are largely lacking as we are not able to capture the biological complexity of whole tissues in an in vitro model. In this opinion paper, we explain how we reached our opinion that converging genomics and materiomics into a new field would enable a significant acceleration of the development of new and improved medical devices. The use of computational modeling to correlate high-throughput gene expression profiling with high throughput combinatorial material design strategies would add power to the analysis of biological effects induced by material properties. We believe that this extra layer of complexity on top of high-throughput material experimentation is necessary to tackle the biological complexity and further advance the biomaterials field. In this opinion paper, we postulate that converging genomics and materiomics into a new field would enable a significant acceleration of the development of new and improved medical devices. The use of computational modeling to correlate high-throughput gene expression profiling with high throughput combinatorial material design strategies would

Power networks have to withstand a variety of disturbances that affect system frequency, and the problem is compounded with the increasing integration of intermittent renewable generation. Following a large-signal generation or load disturbance, system frequency is arrested leveraging primary frequency control provided by governor action in synchronous generators. In this work, we propose a framework for distributed energy resources (DERs) deployed in distribution networks to provide (supplemental) primary frequency response. Particularly, we demonstrate how power-frequency droop slopes for individual DERs can be designed so that the distribution feeder presents a guaranteed frequency-regulation characteristic at the feeder head. Furthermore, the droop slopes are engineered such that injections of individual DERs conform to a well-defined fairness objective that does not penalize them for their location on the distribution feeder. Time-domain simulations for an illustrative network composed of a combined transmission network and distribution network with frequency-responsive DERs are provided to validate the approach.

27.5641 Detached from the cement , not the acryllic. 50 51 C6: Fabric Test Results UV...summary, we learned that our fish hook pad has a stronger grip on rough surfaces like cinderblock and rock than smooth surfaces like a smooth cement ...unique concepts for travel. After evaluating the fluency , variety, and originality of the candidate set, the team determined to begin eliminating the

A survey of fiscal year 1997 POWRE (Professional Opportunities for Women in Research and Education) awardees from the National Science Foundation revealed that women engineers and scientists face similar issues, challenges, and opportunities and think that the laboratory climate has similar impacts on their careers. Separating responses of women scientists from those of women engineers revealed that 70% of both groups listed balancing work with family responsibilities as the most difficult issue. Discrepancies in percentages of women, coupled with differences among disciplinary and subdisciplinary cultures within science, engineering, mathematics, and technology fields, complicate work climates and their impact on women's careers. More frequently than women scientists, women engineers listed issues such as (a) low numbers of women leading to isolation, (b) lack of camaraderie and mentoring, (c) gaining credibility/respect from peers and administrators, (d) time management, (e) prioritizing responsibilities due to disproportionate demands, and (f) learning the rules of the game to survive in a male-dominated environment. Women engineers also listed two positive issues more frequently than women scientists: active recruitment/more opportunities for women and impact of successful women in the profession. The small number of women engineers may explain these results and suggests that it may be inappropriate to group them with other women scientists for analysis, programs, and policies.

Against a background of consumer demand for low fuel consumption vehicles, as well as legislative pressure to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions, the automotive industry is currently developing solutions to significantly improve the efficiency of ICE-based powertrains. One answer to this challenge is the engine downsizing approach. A clear trend can be observed on the market already today: engines of 2.0L swept volume are replaced by engines with a size of about 1.6L. This paper describes the concept for an even more extreme downsizing approach for the next generation of powertrains by further reducing the engine size to 1.0L using a 3 cylinder concept with a specific power rating of 80 kW/L. AVL and Renault worked closely together to define a suitable diesel hybrid powertrain concept for EU6 emission limits. The consequences for the base engine design of such an aggressive downsizing approach were established by means of a design study supported by simulation. Key criteria for such a powertrain are to satisfy customer expectations for performance and driveability, as well as keep the NVH behaviour of the selected 3 cylinder engine configuration close to that of the traditional 4 cylinder engine reference base. The structural concept of this high power engine is based on a peak firing pressure limit of 190 bar. 2- and 4-valve per cylinder concepts are evaluated with regard to their effects on performance, emissions, fuel consumption and cost. The combustion- and EGR-system is defined with respect to EU6 emission compliance, taking into consideration DPF and NOx aftertreatment technologies. (orig.)

Alan Darbyshire's best-selling text book provides five-star high quality content to a potential audience of 13,000 engineering students. It explains the most popular specialist units of the Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering and Operations & Maintenance Engineering pathways of the new 2010 BTEC National Engineering syllabus. This challenging textbook also features contributions from specialist lecturers, ensuring that no stone is left unturned.

Most people agree that our world face daunting problems and, correctly or not, technological solutions are seen as an integral part of an overall solution. But what exactly are the problems and how does the engineering ‘mind set’ frame these problems? This chapter sets out to unravel dominant...... perspectives in challenge per-ception in engineering in the US and Denmark. Challenge perception and response strategies are closely linked through discursive practices. Challenge perceptions within the engineering community and the surrounding society are thus critical for the shaping of engineering education...... and the engineering profession. Through an analysis of influential reports and position papers on engineering and engineering education the chapter sets out to identify how engineering is problematized and eventually governed. Drawing on insights from governmentality studies the chapter strives to elicit the bodies...

Abstract: Most people agree that our world faces daunting problems and, correctly or not, technological solutions are seen as an integral part of an overall solution. But what exactly are the problems and how does the engineering ‘mind set’ frame these problems? This chapter sets out to unravel...... dominant perspectives in challenge perception in engineering in the US and Denmark. Challenge perception and response strategies are closely linked through discursive practices. Challenge perceptions within the engineering community and the surrounding society are thus critical for the shaping...... of engineering education and the engineering profession. Through an analysis of influential reports and position papers on engineering and engineering education the chapter sets out to identify how engineering is problematized and eventually governed. Drawing on insights from governmentality studies the chapter...

Although Semantic Web Services are expected to produce a revolution in the development of Web-based systems, very few enterprise-wide design experiences are available; one of the main reasons is the lack of sound Software Engineering methods and tools for the deployment of Semantic Web applications. In this chapter, we present an approach to software development for the Semantic Web based on classical Software Engineering methods (i.e., formal business process development, computer-aided and component-based software design, and automatic code generation) and on semantic methods and tools (i.e., ontology engineering, semantic service annotation and discovery).

Grey literature Web resources in the field of accelerator science and its allied subjects are collected for the scientists and engineers of RRCAT (Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology). For definition purposes the different types of grey literature are described. The Web resources collected and compiled in this article (with an overview and link for each) specifically focus on technical reports, preprints or e-prints, which meet the main information needs of RRCAT users.

Natural resources management on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers water resources development projects was documented from the responses of management personnel to a detailed questionnaire mailed to a stratified random sample of projects...

Youth involved in 4-H projects have been engaged in science-related endeavors for years. Since 2006, 4-H has invested considerable resources in the advancement of science learning. The new Minnesota 4-H Science of Agriculture Challenge program challenges 4-H youth to work together to identify agriculture-related issues in their communities and to…

This is the preprint version of our paper on 2015 15th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Cluster, Cloud and Grid Computing (CCGrid). This paper takes Shenzhen Futian comprehensive transportation junction as the case, and makes use of continuous multiple real-time dynamic traffic information to carry out monitoring and analysis on spatial and temporal distribution of passenger flow under different means of transportation and service capacity of junction from multi-dimensional space-time pers...

This paper will discuss how control of the grey literature in high-energy physics pre-prints developed through a collaborative effort of librarians and physicists. It will highlight the critical steps in the development process and describe one model of a rapidly evolving virtual library for high-energy physics information. In conclusion, this paper will extend this physics model to other areas of grey literature management

It is neccessary to teach the knowledge of production technics and pre-printing preparations besides the knowledge of developing creativity and aesthetic concerns in order to educate the designers to fullfill the needs of the sector totally at graphic design education. The printed materials prepared by the graphic designer should be evaluated in proper criterias ıf the materials are to be printed. Graphic designers should have the knowledge of the required knowledge of the area in order to me...

This article presents an audit cycle supported quality improvement project addressing best practice in the consent process for lower limb arthroplasty which takes into account the new standard in surgical consent and the importance of material risks. 50 consecutive total hip and total knee replacement consent forms over a 3-month period were reviewed for legibility and completeness. Following the introduction of a new, pre-printed but customizable consent form the review process was repeated. The introduction of a customizable, pre-printed consent form that can be adjusted to reflect the individualized material risks of each patient increased legibility, reduced inappropriate human error variation and abolished the use of abbreviations and medical jargon. When used as part of an extended consent process, the authors feel that the use of pre-printed but customizable consent forms improves legibility, completeness and consistency and also provides the ability to highlight those complications that are of particular importance for that patient to satisfy the new accepted standard in surgical consent.

34Application of a Weakest-Link Concept to the Fatigue Limit of the Bearing Steel Sae 52100 in a Bainitic Condition," Fatigue and Fracture of...AFRL-RX-WP-TP-2011-4206 A WEAKEST-LINK APPROACH FOR FATIGUE LIMIT OF 30CrNiMo8 STEELS (PREPRINT) S. Ekwaro-Osire and H.V. Kulkarni Texas...2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE A WEAKEST-LINK APPROACH FOR FATIGUE LIMIT OF 30CrNiMo8 STEELS (PREPRINT) 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER In-house 5b. GRANT

As the subject indicates, the aim of this workshop will be to discuss the latest advances related to motor vehicles, but also, and more generally, to exchange ideas between academic partners, car-manufacturers and subcontractors. The programme shows that a special effort has been made in this respect. No doubt plenary lectures are of great importance and the thematic sessions in the different sectors are the essence of such workshops; however, the discussions between experts in the different fields, the meetings between people from industry, universities and public or private laboratories, as well as the resulting exchange of ideas, are at least as important. Research is often criticized for providing merely theoretical results and for the insufficient number of its applications. But the motor vehicle offers a wide field of applications in which we can validate all techniques, tools and methods. This allows us to be involved in all the areas of fundamental research, in all the different possible approaches from fundamental research to technology transfer, and to observe the actual effects of our results. The increase in road traffic was a major problem of the past XXth century. It is clear that one the challenges of the XXIst century will be improve driving safety and comfort. The different work sessions concerning more control, driveline modelling, vehicle dynamics, electronic architecture, intelligent components, engine control, engine modelling, the modelling of combustion and turbocharging, diagnostics and subsystems. The quality of the papers and the diversity of their origins clearly shows the interest that we all take in this key sector of our research and industry. (orig.)

Considerations o Aesthetics - viewscapes and soundscapes o Similar to what others have mentioned, but slightly different from perspective of recreation...Viewscapes & soundscapes People value natural sights and sounds Assessing impacts is challenging Considerations Device specifications and location

The rising cost of diesel fuel and the environmental regulation for its transportation, use, and storage, combined with the clear impacts of increased arctic temperatures, is driving remote communities to examine alternative methods of providing power. Over the past few years, wind energy has been increasingly used to reduce diesel fuel consumption, providing economic, environmental, and security benefits to the energy supply of communities from Alaska to Antarctica. This summary paper describes the current state of wind-diesel systems, reviews the operation of wind-diesel plants in cold climates, discusses current research activities pertaining to these systems, and addresses their technical and commercial challenges. System architectures, dispatch strategies, and operating experience from a variety of wind-diesel systems in Alaska will be reviewed. Specific focus will also be given to the control of power systems with large amounts of wind generation and the complexities of replacing diesel engine waste heat with excess wind energy, a key factor in assessing power plants for retrofit. A brief overview of steps for assessing the viability of retrofitting diesel power systems with wind technologies will also be provided. Because of the large number of isolated diesel minigrids, the market for adding wind to these systems is substantial, specifically in arctic climates and on islands that rely on diesel-only power generation.

The paper discusses the following topics: the importance of export controls; the uniqueness of nuclear weapons and their export control requirements; ''dual-use'' controls; and recent developments in nonproliferation beyond export control. Also discussed are some non-obvious challenges which include computer modeling and visualization, and fissile material availability and instant nukes. The author concludes by asking the Nuclear Suppliers Group to consider whether there are ways to make its controls more effective

The paper discusses the following topics: the importance of export controls; the uniqueness of nuclear weapons and their export control requirements; ``dual-use`` controls; and recent developments in nonproliferation beyond export control. Also discussed are some non-obvious challenges which include computer modeling and visualization, and fissile material availability and instant nukes. The author concludes by asking the Nuclear Suppliers Group to consider whether there are ways to make its controls more effective.

This article provides a summary of the comparative analysis between the first three editions of the Master MINA The first part is devoted to identifying trends between generations in terms of interest, qualifications and responses to the challenges of the Master. The second provides the assessment of students in the last edition and the measures that are to be adopted accordingly. Moreover, in the last part of the presentation includes an analysis of the effects that it has had the Fukushima accident.

Currently, all potential must be tapped in order to reach the increasingly tighter CO{sub 2} limits for vehicles. From the variety of possible options for reducing fuel consumption, the contribution of improved heat management should not be ignored since increased friction during warm-up results in greater fuel consumption. Engine warm-up models that calculate thermal behavior and fuel consumption are a relatively inexpensive alternative to empirical measures. In order to achieve satisfactory simulation results, the exact modeling of thermal behavior as well as friction conditions is necessary. This paper identifies the demands placed on the individual submodels based on the requirements for precision that thermal warm-up models must meet. Before treating the friction model it will explain the development of the heat input model in detail. In addition, it presents the test program needed to establish and validate the simulation model with the required measurement accuracy. (orig.)

This article considers the challenges posed by the declining orders in the plant engineering and contracting business in Germany, the need to remain competitive, and essential preconditions for mastering the challenge. The change in engineering approach is illustrated by the building of a methanol plant in Argentina by Lurgi with the basic engineering completed in Frankfurt with involvement of key personnel from Poland, completely engineered subsystems from a Brazilian subsupplier, and detailed engineering work in Frankfurt. The production of methanol from natural gas using the LurgiMega/Methanol process is used as a typical example of the industrial plant construction sector. The prerequisites for successful global engineering are listed, and error costs in plant construction, possible savings, and process intensification are discussed

With the increasing restrictions on CO2 emissions, the utilization of solar power is emerging as an effective way to increase the renewable portfolio for utility power. For example in California, the utilities' current renewable portfolios must increase from 20% to 33% by 2020. This drive has made renewable power considerably more desirable. However, fresh water availability and optimal solar irradiation are generally two mutually exclusive local characteristics that make locating and designing these plants challenging. Not only is fresh water scarce at the desert locations where these solar plants are generally located, but options for disposal of wastewater can be very limited as well. These factors have pushed the design of these plants to develop a fine balance between conserving and reusing water to the greatest extent practical and reducing parasitic electrical loads. This paper addresses the challenges associated with developing solar power plant designs that optimize house electrical load while minimizing water footprint. Through the implementation of operational water management techniques and optimized water treatment processes, water usage can be reduced to manageable levels. Utilizing systems that recover and recycle wastewater, the system can be further optimized to reduce the overall water footprint. Case studies are presented for multiple sites detailing the individual optimization required based on the water quality provided. Lessons learned during plant siting and permitting are provided to shed light on the current issues associated with wastewater disposal in these areas and utilization of evaporation ponds. In addition, various design philosophies are discussed to guide the reader through the difficulties of determining the right mix of initial capital cost, optimized water usage, minimized operating cost and minimized parasitic electrical load. (orig.)

Science publishing and its procedures have evolved rapidly and incredibly. Technical advances in the production and promotion of science content have dramatically widened the visibility and reach, deepened the impact and intensified the thrust of our journals’ science content. Nevertheless, it is also true that with speed and ease of automation, quality is to be ferociously guarded. Could traditional methods when juxtaposed with the continuous onslaught of newer technologies, in our publishing procedures, be the answer. Are people still the quintessential element in technology?Why do we publish; the phrase “Publish or Perish” has itself, interestingly, evolved in its meaning. How have publishing procedures evolved through the years; what is the impact of these developments; what are the challenges and opportunities for scholarly publishers in this digital age. How do we cope with and preempt the abuse and distortion of internet data, and with unethical practices that threaten to cripple the peer review system, and jeopardize publishing ethics and academic integrity. How can publishers fulfill their responsibility to publish content that is explicitly original.With increasing demand from the astronomical community for e-journals and other e-resources and with the gradual loss of value for printed journals, librarians are developing and maintaining e-libraries and providing access to digital resources, and re-engineering their roles to provide advancing tools for e-pub content.How can we prepare for the future of publishing, or is it already here with the popularity of pre-print servers. How have publishers responded to the Open Access model while being aware that ‘the price of keeping something free comes with a cost’. Will potential authors be confused with identifying traditional peer reviewed content, the predatory journals, the fake reviewers, placing research in institutional repositories, copyright and licenses. Are libraries impacted by these

The objective of this paper is to define a comprehensible overview of the Human Factors approach to biomedical informatics applications for healthcare. The overview starts with a presentation of the necessity of a proper management of Human factors for Healthcare IT projects to avoid unusable products and unsafe work situations. The first section is dedicated to definitions of the Human Factors Engineering (HFE) main concepts. The second section describes a functional model of an HFE lifecycle adapted for healthcare work situations. The third section provides an overview of existing HF and usability methods for healthcare products and presents a selection of interesting results. The last section discusses the benefits and limitations of the HFE approach. Literature review based on Pubmed and conference proceedings in the field of Medical Informatics coupled with a review of other databases and conference proceedings in the field of Ergonomics focused on papers addressing healthcare work and system design. Usability studies performed on healthcare applications have uncovered unacceptable usability flaws that make the systems error prone, thus endangering the patient safety. Moreover, in many cases, the procurement and the implementation process simply forget about human factors: following only technological considerations, they issue potentially dangerous and always unpleasant work situations. But when properly applied to IT projects, the HFE approach proves efficient when seeking to improve patient safety, users' satisfaction and adoption of the products. We recommend that the HFE methodology should be applied to most informatics and systems development projects, and the usability of the products should be systematically checked before permitting their release and implementation. This requires the development of Centers specialized in Human Factors for Healthcare and Patient safety in each Country/Region.

Systems biology, i.e. quantitative, postgenomic, postproteomic, dynamic, multiscale physiology, addresses in an integrative, quantitative manner the shockwave of genetic and proteomic information using computer models that may eventually have 10(6) dynamic variables with non-linear interactions. Historically, single biological measurements are made over minutes, suggesting the challenge of specifying 10(6) model parameters. Except for fluorescence and micro-electrode recordings, most cellular measurements have inadequate bandwidth to discern the time course of critical intracellular biochemical events. Micro-array expression profiles of thousands of genes cannot determine quantitative dynamic cellular signalling and metabolic variables. Major gaps must be bridged between the computational vision and experimental reality. The analysis of cellular signalling dynamics and control requires, first, micro- and nano-instruments that measure simultaneously multiple extracellular and intracellular variables with sufficient bandwidth; secondly, the ability to open existing internal control and signalling loops; thirdly, external BioMEMS micro-actuators that provide high bandwidth feedback and externally addressable intracellular nano-actuators; and, fourthly, real-time, closed-loop, single-cell control algorithms. The unravelling of the nested and coupled nature of cellular control loops requires simultaneous recording of multiple single-cell signatures. Externally controlled nano-actuators, needed to effect changes in the biochemical, mechanical and electrical environment both outside and inside the cell, will provide a major impetus for nanoscience.

One of the most significant challenges in large-scale climate modeling, as well as in high-performance computing in other scientific fields, is that of effectively integrating many software models from multiple contributors. A software framework facilitates the integration task, both in the development and runtime stages of the simulation. Effective software frameworks reduce the programming burden for the investigators, freeing them to focus more on the science and less on the parallel communication implementation. while maintaining high performance across numerous supercomputer and workstation architectures. This document surveys numerous software frameworks for potential use in Earth science modeling. Several frameworks are evaluated in depth, including Parallel Object-Oriented Methods and Applications (POOMA), Cactus (from (he relativistic physics community), Overture, Goddard Earth Modeling System (GEMS), the National Center for Atmospheric Research Flux Coupler, and UCLA/UCB Distributed Data Broker (DDB). Frameworks evaluated in less detail include ROOT, Parallel Application Workspace (PAWS), and Advanced Large-Scale Integrated Computational Environment (ALICE). A host of other frameworks and related tools are referenced in this context. The frameworks are evaluated individually and also compared with each other.

Isoindoles are a broad class of compounds that comprise a very small space within the domain of established photoactive materials for organic photovoltaics (OPVs). Given this scarcity, combined with the performance appeal of presently and well known isoindole-based compounds such as the phthalocyanines, it is a worthy undertaking to develop new materials in this domain. This thesis aims to bring to light the suitability of five novel, or underexplored, classes of isoindole-based materials for OPVs. These classes are the boron subphthalocyanine (BsubPc) polymers, oxygen-bridged dimers of BsubPcs (mu-oxo-(BsubPc) 2), boron subnaphthalocyanines (BsubNcs), group XIII metal complexes of 1,3-bis(2-pyridylimino)isodinoline (BPI), and the boron tribenzosubporphyrins (BsubPys). The synthesis of these materials was proven to be challenging as evident in their low isolated yields, lengthy synthetic and purification processes, and/or batch-to-batch variations. This outcome was not surprising given their undeveloped chemical nature. The photo- and electro-physical properties were characterized and shown to be desirable for all classes other than the group XIII metal complexes of BPI for OPVs. mu-Oxo-(BsubPc)2 and BsubNcs show promise in this application while BsubPc polymers and BsubPys will be subjects of future exploration. The results from the work herein aid to develop and strengthen the fundamental understanding of the structure-property relationships of isoindole derivatives. On a broader scale, the work demonstrates their versatility as functional materials for OPVs and their possible expansion to other organic electronic technologies like organic light emitting diodes and organic field effect transistors.

SHM). 3 Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. The transducers, which are Lead Zirconate Titanate ( PZT ) discs, are permanently... fatigued . Data were recorded as a function of load before the hole was drilled, after the hole was drilled, and at intervals thereafter as a function...of fatigue life. Figure 7 illustrates the effects of matched loads on a fatigue crack about 5 mm in length. Figures 7(a), (b) and (c) correspond

.... Of the wide variety of structural applications, fiber-reinforced composites for aerospace structures have some of the most demanding applications with extreme requirements in physical, chemical...

engineering is addresses from two perspectives – as an educational response and an occupational constellation. Architecture and engineering are two of the traditional design professions and they frequently meet in the occupational setting, but at educational institutions they remain largely estranged....... The paper builds on a multi-sited study of an architectural engineering program at the Technical University of Denmark and an architectural engineering team within an international engineering consultancy based on Denmark. They are both responding to new tendencies within the building industry where...... the role of engineers and architects increasingly overlap during the design process, but their approaches reflect different perceptions of the consequences. The paper discusses some of the challenges that design education, not only within engineering, is facing today: young designers must be equipped...

This paper describes the Engineering 4 Health (E4H) Challenge, an interdisciplinary and intercultural initiative that, on the one hand, seeks to improve health education of children in under-serviced communities and, on the other, seeks to attract students in British Columbia to professions in engineering and health. The E4H Challenge engages high school and university students in BC to cooperatively design and develop health information and communication technology (ICT) to educate children living in under-serviced communities. The E4H Challenge works with the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program to integrate applications for health awareness into the school programs of communities in developing countries. Although applications developed by the E4H Challenge use the low-cost, innovative XO laptop (the "$100 laptop" developed by the OLPC foundation) the software can also be used with other inexpensive hardware.

... from military aircraft, in order to meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. This paper describes the results of a recent field study using extractive and optical remote sensing (ORS...

This paper introduces the development of a new software framework for research, design, and development of wind energy systems which is meant to 1) represent a full wind plant including all physical and nonphysical assets and associated costs up to the point of grid interconnection, 2) allow use of interchangeable models of varying fidelity for different aspects of the system, and 3) support system level multidisciplinary analyses and optimizations. This paper describes the design of the overall software capability and applies it to a global sensitivity analysis of wind turbine and plant performance and cost. The analysis was performed using three different model configurations involving different levels of fidelity, which illustrate how increasing fidelity can preserve important system interactions that build up to overall system performance and cost. Analyses were performed for a reference wind plant based on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's 5-MW reference turbine at a mid-Atlantic offshore location within the United States.

processed and heat-treated to a duplex  phase microstructural condition, as shown in Fig. 3. The microstructure consisted of primary, equiaxed...Closely spaced, cylindrical specimen blanks of this material were machined from the forging, and sections of Ti-6Al-4V rod were inertia welded to the...ends as extensions for gripping. Subsequently, the inertia- welded blanks were machined and finished by low-stress grinding into either cylindrical

Using the existing fuel supply chain infrastructure as a framework, this paper discusses a vision for transitioning to a larger biofuels industry and the challenges associated with a massive market and infrastructure transformation.

Lieberman and Melott built their recent arXiv preprint 0704.2896 on my published paper and (a preprint of) a subsequent comment by Liebermans associate Cornette. But had this group waited for the Cornette comment to actually appear in print together with the expected Reply, they would have learned that his comment exposes Cornettes confusion that likely was due to journal misprint of my figure. Thus 0704.2896 is baseless. Despite receiving the extended Reply with Errata, these authors still f...

Variable renewable generation is increasing in penetration in modern power systems, leading to higher variability in the supply and price of electricity as well as lower average spot prices. This raises new challenges, particularly in ensuring sufficient capacity and flexibility from conventional technologies. Because the fixed costs and lifetimes of electricity generation investments are significant, designing markets and regulations that ensure the efficient integration of renewable generation is a significant challenge. This papers reviews the state of play of market designs for high levels of variable generation in the United States and Europe and considers new developments in both regions.

The question of wind integration cost has received much attention in the past several years. The methodological challenges to calculating integration costs are discussed in this paper. There are other sources of integration cost unrelated to wind energy. A performance-based approach would be technology neutral, and would provide price signals for all technology types. However, it is difficult to correctly formulate such an approach. Determining what is and is not an integration cost is challenging. Another problem is the allocation of system costs to one source. Because of significant nonlinearities, this can prove to be impossible to determine in an accurate and objective way.

Contemporary Engineering Economics, 5/e, is intended for undergraduate engineering students taking introductory engineering economics while appealing to the full range of engineering disciplines for which this course is often required: industrial, civil, mechanical, electrical, computer, aerospace, chemical, and manufacturing engineering, as well as engineering technology. This edition has been thoroughly revised and updated while continuing to adopt a contemporary approach to the subject, and teaching, of engineering economics. This text aims not only to build a sound and comprehensive coverage of engineering economics, but also to address key educational challenges, such as student difficulty in developing the analytical skills required to make informed financial decisions.

Building energy simulations are often used for trial-and-error evaluation of ''what-if'' options in building design--a limited search for an optimal solution, or ''optimization''. Computerized searching has the potential to automate the input and output, evaluate many options, and perform enough simulations to account for the complex interactions among combinations of options. This paper describes ongoing efforts to develop such a tool. The optimization tool employs multiple modules, including a graphical user interface, a database, a preprocessor, the EnergyPlus simulation engine, an optimization engine, and a simulation run manager. Each module is described and the overall application architecture is summarized.

del Senyal i Comunicacions Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain gloria@gps.tsc.upc.edu Gregory Randall Instituto de Ingenierı́a Eléctrica...Universidad de la República, Uruguay randall@fing.edu.uy Guillermo Sapiro Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Minnesota, USA guille...NGA, ARO, the McKnight Foundation, and the Juan de la Cierva Program. GH was a postdoctoral associate at Institute of Mathematics and its

the perspective of engineering design challenges where the need for problem identification is obvious to avoid the pitfall to reproduce and piecemeal engineer already existing product or service concepts. Problem identification is not a simple desk research task as it often involves a multitude of actors having......One of the big challenges in the CDIO approach to engineering education is the first part focusing on conceiving problems to be handled and eventually solved. Traditional engineering education has been dominated by its focus on technical disciplines emphasising their individual tool box of problem...

From Leonardo da Vinci's designs for ball bearings to the incredible engineering wizardry behind the Ferrari, the inventive, inquisitive, and ingenious spirit of the engineer has always lived--and thrived--in Italy. From education to research to product development, Italy has always been regarded as an engineering leader. But does this apply to biomedical engineering (BME)? Despite many successes, questions loom, as they do at engineering schools worldwide. Concerns such as whether BME programs are providing students with enough focused, practical, hands-on training remain at the forefront, as does the question of whether graduates will be able to find jobs in industry after university studies are over. Here, IEEE Pulse explores these topics with Riccardo Pietrabissa, president of the Gruppo Nazionale di Bioingegneria (National Bioengineering Group) and a full professor in the Department of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.

This document provides the presentations proposed during the day Cathala-Letort on the challenges of the processes engineering facing the hydrogen-energy. In the context of the greenhouse effect increase and the fossil energies resources decrease, it brings information on researches on hydrogen technologies, carbon dioxide sequestration, hydrogen supply, production, storage and distribution and the thermo-chemical cycles. (A.L.B.)

liquid nitrogen bath to obtain complete martensitic transformation at the surface. This is followed by tempering at 500°C for 1.5 hours to achieve...microstructure of martensite [38-42] and the scales over which process-induced strengthening effects are realized in components, it is quite challenging to...Deformation and fracture in martensitic carbon steels tempered at low temperatures. Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and

Photovoltaic (PV) technologies have a substantial role in meeting electric power needs in the next century, especially with an expected competitive position compared to conventional power-generation and other renewable- energy technologies. Thin-film photovoltaic modules based on CdTe, CuInSe2 or Si can potentially be produced by economical, high-volume manufacturing techniques, dramatically reducing component cost. However, the translation of laboratory thin-film technologies to first-time, large-scale manufacturing has been much more difficult than expected. This is due to the complexity of the processes involved for making large-area PV modules at high rates and with high yields, and compounded by the lack of a fundamental scientific and engineering base required to properly engineer and operate manufacturing equipment. In this paper, we discuss the need to develop diagnostics tools and associated predictive models that quantitatively assess processing conditions and pro duct properties. Incorporation of the diagnostic sensors into both laboratory reactors and manufacturing facilities will (1) underpin the development of solar cells with improved efficiency, and (2) accelerate the scale-up process through intelligent process-control schemes. ''Next-generation'' high-performance (e.g., and gt;25% conversion efficiency) thin-film PV modules will also be assessed, along with critical issues associated with their development

The background for the book is a quest for a thorough analysis of engineering, engineering science, and engineering education. Focusing on the concepts of engineering science, skills, and Bildung, the book investigates the real challenges that are confronting engineering today, and discusses how...

Virtual oscillator control and droop control are two techniques that can be used to ensure synchronization and power sharing of parallel inverters in islanded operation. VOC relies on the implementation of non-linear Van der Pol oscillator equations in the control system of the inverter, acting upon the time-domain instantaneous inverter current and terminal voltage. On the other hand, DC explicitly computes active and reactive power produced by the inverter and relies on limited bandwidth low-pass filters. Even though both methods can be engineered to produce the same steady-state characteristics, their dynamic performances are significantly different. This paper presents analytical and experimental results that aim to compare both methods. It is shown that VOC is inherently faster and enables minimizing the circulating currents. The results are verified using three 120V, 1kW inverters.

This paper presents several case studies of rapidly implemented, audience-specific applications for whole building energy modeling and standards analysis. By tailoring each application to the audience and the task at hand, the required learning curve for new users was greatly reduced. Each case study used OpenStudio, the U.S. Department of Energy's middleware software development kit (SDK). OpenStudio provides an easy interface to the EnergyPlus whole building simulation engine, while extending its capability and providing higher-level functionality such as software interoperability, standards, analysis, and optimization. Each case study is unique in the technology employed to interface with OpenStudio as well as the methods used for user interaction and data presentation. Four case studies are presented.

Electric drive systems for vehicle propulsion enable technologies critical to meeting challenges for energy, environmental, and economic security. Enabling cost-effective electric drive systems requires reductions in inverter power semiconductor area. As critical components of the electric drive system are made smaller, heat removal becomes an increasing challenge. In this paper, we demonstrate an integrated approach to the design of thermal management systems for power semiconductors that matches the passive thermal resistance of the packaging with the active convective cooling performance of the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger concept builds on existing semiconductor thermal management improvements described in literature and patents, which include improved bonded interface materials, direct cooling of the semiconductor packages, and double-sided cooling. The key difference in the described concept is the achievement of high heat transfer performance with less aggressive cooling techniques by optimizing the passive and active heat transfer paths. An extruded aluminum design was selected because of its lower tooling cost, higher performance, and scalability in comparison to cast aluminum. Results demonstrated a heat flux improvement of a factor of two, and a package heat density improvement over 30%, which achieved the thermal performance targets.

Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) is a set of techniques that estimate the electricity usage of individual appliances from power measurements taken at a limited number of locations in a building. One of the key challenges in NILM is having too much data without class labels yet being unable to label the data manually for cost or time constraints. This paper presents an active learning framework that helps existing NILM techniques to overcome this challenge. Active learning is an advanced machine learning method that interactively queries a user for the class label information. Unlike most existing NILM systems that heuristically request user inputs, the proposed method only needs minimally sufficient information from a user to build a compact and yet highly representative load signature library. Initial results indicate the proposed method can reduce the user inputs by up to 90% while still achieving similar disaggregation performance compared to a heuristic method. Thus, the proposed method can substantially reduce the burden on the user, improve the performance of a NILM system with limited user inputs, and overcome the key market barriers to the wide adoption of NILM technologies.

The degradation of cations on the alkaline exchange membranes is the major challenge for alkaline membrane fuel cells. In this paper, we investigated the degradation barriers by density functional theory for substituted benzyltrimethyl ammonium (BTMA+) cations, which is one of the most commonly used cations for alkaline exchange membranes. We found that substituted cations with electron-releasing substituent groups at meta-position of the benzyl ring could result in improved degradation barriers. However, after investigating more than thirty substituted BTMA+ cations with ten different substituent groups, the largest improvement of degradation barriers is only 1.6 kcal/mol. This implies that the lifetime of alkaline membrane fuel cells could increase from a few months to a few years by using substituted BTMA+ cations, an encouraging but still limited improvement for real-world applications.

A brief review is presented of fundamental research topics of primary importance to the development of improved solar cells based on chalcopyrite-structure materials. The opinions presented are a consensus opinion of the authors of the paper, with input from members of the chalcopyrite solar cells research community in the United States. Major topical areas identified included, in order of importance, are (1) development of an integrated predictive understanding of CIGS(S) materials and devices, (2) development of novel deposition techniques and characterization of the mechanisms of growth in existing and novel processes, (3) novel materials, especially with wide-energy gaps (is greater than or equal to 1.7 eV) other than Cu-based chalcopyrites, (4) development of real-time material characterizations for process control, and (5) alternative front- and rear-contact materials. Although the five topics identified are quite broad, they do not include all topics of interest. Also discussed briefly are some other potential research areas not in the highest priority topics, in particular, areas identified as primarily ''engineering'' rather than ''science.''

The preprint was prepared of a report meeting for the results of `the publicly applied proposal type and hi-tech (emphasized) field research and development in fiscal 1995` to be held in Tokyo during February 12 to 14, 1997. In the meeting, a lecture titled `The system of fundamental researches and its execution` is to be given as a special lecture and the following are as general lectures: `Energy/environmental technology and next generation catalysts,` ` The present and outlook of surgery in the 21st century - computer surgery,` The present situation of education and research related to the design of digital integrated systems,` and `The present and future of research and development of a new carbon material, fullerene.` Research reports were prepared by field as follows: 73 papers in the new material technology field, 46 in the bio-technology field, 36 in the electronics/information technology field, 8 in the mechanical system technology field, 8 in the human life engineering technology field, 23 in the medical/welfare equipment technology field, 5 in the resource technology field, 17 in the energy/environment technology field.

A symposium on commissioning and operating experiences in heavy water plants and associated chemical industries (SCOPEX-92) was organised to share the experience and exchange the ideas among plant operators, designers, consultants and vendors in the areas of operation, commissioning and equipment performance. This pre-print volume has been brought out as an integrated source of information on commissioning and operation of heavy water plants. The following aspects of heavy water plants are covered: commissioning and operation, instrumentation and control, and safety and environment. (V.R.)

This design/problem-solving activity challenges students to design a replacement bridge for one that has been designated as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The Aycock MS Technology/STEM Magnet Program Virtual Bridge Design Challenge is an authentic introduction to the engineering design process. It is a socially relevant…

One of the key tenets to increasing adoption of energy efficiency solutions in the built environment is improving confidence in energy performance. Current industry practices make extensive use of predictive modeling, often via the use of sophisticated hourly or sub-hourly energy simulation programs, to account for site-specific parameters (e.g., climate zone, hours of operation, and space type) and arrive at a performance estimate. While such methods are highly precise, they invariably provide less than ideal accuracy due to a lack of high-quality, foundational energy performance input data. The Technology Performance Exchange was constructed to allow the transparent sharing of foundational, product-specific energy performance data, and leverages significant, external engineering efforts and a modular architecture to efficiently identify and codify the minimum information necessary to accurately predict product energy performance. This strongly-typed database resource represents a novel solution to a difficult and established problem. One of the most exciting benefits is the way in which the Technology Performance Exchange's application programming interface has been leveraged to integrate contributed foundational data into the Building Component Library. Via a series of scripts, data is automatically translated and parsed into the Building Component Library in a format that is immediately usable to the energy modeling community. This paper (1) presents a high-level overview of the project drivers and the structure of the Technology Performance Exchange; (2) offers a detailed examination of how technologies are incorporated and translated into powerful energy modeling code snippets; and (3) examines several benefits of this robust workflow.

Uncertainties associated with solar forecasts present challenges to maintain grid reliability, especially at high solar penetrations. This study aims to quantify the errors associated with the day-ahead solar forecast parameters and the theoretical solar power output for a 51-kW solar power plant in a utility area in the state of Vermont, U.S. Forecasts were generated by three numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, including the Rapid Refresh, the High Resolution Rapid Refresh, and the North American Model, and a machine-learning ensemble model. A photovoltaic (PV) performance model was adopted to calculate theoretical solar power generation using the forecast parameters (e.g., irradiance, cell temperature, and wind speed). Errors of the power outputs were quantified using statistical moments and a suite of metrics, such as the normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE). In addition, the PV model's sensitivity to different forecast parameters was quantified and analyzed. Results showed that the ensemble model yielded forecasts in all parameters with the smallest NRMSE. The NRMSE of solar irradiance forecasts of the ensemble NWP model was reduced by 28.10% compared to the best of the three NWP models. Further, the sensitivity analysis indicated that the errors of the forecasted cell temperature attributed only approximately 0.12% to the NRMSE of the power output as opposed to 7.44% from the forecasted solar irradiance.

Access to existing travel data is critical for many analysis efforts that lack the time or resources to support detailed data collection. High-resolution data sets provide particular value, but also present a challenge for preserving the anonymity of the original survey participants. To address this dilemma of providing data access while preserving privacy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Transportation have launched the Transportation Secure Data Center (TSDC). TSDC data sets include those from regional travel surveys and studies that increasingly use global positioning system devices. Data provided by different collecting agencies varies with respect to formatting, elements included and level of processing conducted in support of the original purpose. The TSDC relies on a number of geospatial and other analysis tools to ensure data quality and to generate useful information outputs. TSDC users can access the processed data in two different ways. The first is by downloading summary results and second-by-second vehicle speed profiles (with latitude/longitude information removed) from a publicly-accessible website. The second method involves applying for a remote connection account to a controlled-access environment where spatial analysis can be conducted, but raw data cannot be removed.

Geothermal exploration projects have significant amount of risk associated with uncertainties encountered in the discovery of the geothermal resource. Understanding when and how to proceed in an exploration program, and when to walk away from a site, are two of the largest challenges for increased geothermal deployment. Current methodologies for exploration decision making is left to subjective by subjective expert opinion which can be incorrectly biased by expertise (e.g. geochemistry, geophysics), geographic location of focus, and the assumed conceptual model. The aim of this project is to develop a methodology for more objective geothermal exploration decision making at a given location, including go-no-go decision points to help developers and investors decide when to give up on a location. In this scope, two different approaches are investigated: 1) value of information analysis (VOIA) which is used for evaluating and quantifying the value of a data before they are purchased, and 2) enthalpy-based exploration targeting based on reservoir size, temperature gradient estimates, and internal rate of return (IRR). The first approach, VOIA, aims to identify the value of a particular data when making decisions with an uncertain outcome. This approach targets the pre-drilling phase of exploration. These estimated VOIs are highly affected by the size of the project and still have a high degree of subjectivity in assignment of probabilities. The second approach, exploration targeting, is focused on decision making during the drilling phase. It starts with a basic geothermal project definition that includes target and minimum required production capacity and initial budgeting for exploration phases. Then, it uses average temperature gradient, reservoir temperature estimates, and production capacity to define targets and go/no-go limits. The decision analysis in this approach is based on achieving a minimum IRR at each phase of the project. This second approach was

The Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study (ERGIS), explores the operational impacts of the wide spread adoption of wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) resources in the U.S. Eastern Interconnection and Quebec Interconnection (collectively, EI). In order to understand some of the economic and reliability challenges of managing hundreds of gigawatts of wind and PV generation, we developed state of the art tools, data, and models for simulating power system operations using hourly unit commitment and 5-minute economic dispatch over an entire year. Using NREL's high-performance computing capabilities and new methodologies to model operations, we found that the EI, as simulated with evolutionary change in 2026, could balance the variability and uncertainty of wind and PV at a 5-minute level under a variety of conditions. A large-scale display and a combination of multiple coordinated views and small multiples were used to visually analyze the four large highly multivariate scenarios with high spatial and temporal resolutions. state of the art tools, data, and models for simulating power system operations using hourly unit commitment and 5-minute economic dispatch over an entire year. Using NRELs high-performance computing capabilities and new methodologies to model operations, we found that the EI, as simulated with evolutionary change in 2026, could balance the variability and uncertainty of wind and PV at a 5-minute level under a variety of conditions. A large-scale display and a combination of multiple coordinated views and small multiples were used to visually analyze the four large highly multivariate scenarios with high spatial and temporal resolutions.

Full Text Available The goal of this study was to develop the foundation for the creation of a 21st century spiritual which could be used to mitigate the effects of stress and violence. Using a multi-disciplinary team and basing the work in the music of the antebellum Negro Spiritual (a group of 6000 works, reverse engineering, extensive use of engineering principles and utilization of existing databases was done to aid in the analysis of the neurological and physiological impact of the musical form and development of an applicable theory.

More stringent emission limits for large engines are dominating research and development activities of engine and component manufacturers during the next years. This is especially the case with respect to the introduction of the IMO-TIER 3 limits in the emission control areas in 2016. Then a reduction of nitrogen oxides emissions of roughly 80% compared to today is required. In particular in combination with new regulations on the fuel sulfur content or on the sulfur oxide emissions respectively totally new technological approaches have to be applied to marine diesel engines and their periphery. Technical solutions based on exhaust gas treatment like SCR-catalysts or sulfur scrubbers as well as exhaust gas recirculation concepts are discussed in this paper. Depending on the specific method there is a need to handle different operating materials such as heavy fuel oil, distillate fuels, urea solution, caustic soda lye or lime. Furthermore specific challenges for the development and application of advanced fuel injection systems and injection strategies are mentioned. It is to be assumed that several emission reduction concepts will be available in 2016. Depending on the skip type and the characteristic deployment an optimum concept has to be selected. Because of the complexity of the different technologies strong repercussions are implied on the ship layout and marine engine operation. (orig.)

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are an integral and important part of thermal management in electronic devices. The electronic devices are becoming more compact and powerful. This increase in power processed or passing through the devices leads to higher heat fluxes and makes it a challenge to maintain temperatures at the optimal level during operation. Herein, we report a free standing nanocomposite TIM in which boron nitride nanosheets (BNNS) are uniformly dispersed in copper matrices via an organic linker, thiosemicarbazide. Integration of these metal-organic-inorganic nanocomposites was made possible by a novel electrodeposition technique where the functionalized BNNS (f-BNNS) experience the Brownian motion and reach the cathode through diffusion, while the nucleation and growth of the copper on the cathode occurs via the electrochemical reduction. Once the f-BNNS bearing carbonothioyl/thiol groups on the terminal edges come into the contact with copper crystals, the chemisorption reaction takes place. We performed thermal, mechanical, and structural characterization of these nanocomposites using scanning electron microcopy (SEM), diffusive laser flash (DLF) analysis, phase-sensitive transient thermoreflectence (PSTTR), and nanoindentation. The nanocomposites exhibited a thermal conductivity ranging from 211 W/mK to 277 W/mK at a filler mass loading of 0-12 wt.percent. The nanocomposites also have about 4 times lower hardness as compared to copper, with values ranging from 0.27 GPa to 0.41 GPa. The structural characterization studies showed that most of the BNNS are localized at grain boundaries - which enable efficient thermal transport while making the material soft. PSTTR measurements revealed that the synergistic combinations of these properties yielded contact resistances on the order of 0.10 to 0.13 mm2K/W, and the total thermal resistance of 0.38 to 0.56 mm2K/W at bondline thicknesses of 30-50 um. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the

Engineering has gained considerable traction in many K-12 schools. However, there are several obstacles or challenges to an effective approach that leads to student learning. Questions such as where engineering best fits in the curriculum; how to include it authentically and appropriately; toward what educational end; and how best to prepare…

Life Prediction Model for Grid-Connected Li-ion Battery Energy Storage System: Preprint Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are being deployed on the electrical grid for a variety of purposes, such as to smooth fluctuations in solar renewable power generation. The lifetime of these batteries will vary depending on their thermal environment and how they are charged and discharged. To optimal utilization of a battery over its lifetime requires characterization of its performance degradation under different storage and cycling conditions. Aging tests were conducted on commercial graphite/nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) Li-ion cells. A general lifetime prognostic model framework is applied to model changes in capacity and resistance as the battery degrades. Across 9 aging test conditions from 0oC to 55oC, the model predicts capacity fade with 1.4 percent RMS error and resistance growth with 15 percent RMS error. The model, recast in state variable form with 8 states representing separate fade mechanisms, is used to extrapolate lifetime for example applications of the energy storage system integrated with renewable photovoltaic (PV) power generation.

One of the most difficult challenges in engine technology today is the urgent need to increase engine thermal efficiency. Higher efficiencies mean less fuel consumption and lower atmospheric emissions per unit of work produced by the engine. In 1862 a Frenchman Alphouse Beau de Rochas gives his theory regarding the ideal cycle of the internal combustion engine. This theory is applied by a German engineer named Nikolaus A. Otto, who firstly built a successful four-stroke SI engine in 1876. The...

Olympiad Girls Who Code Club FIRST Tech Challenge NSF I-Corps Site of Southeastern Wisconsin UW-Milwaukee with up and coming engineering talent. Read more. merc-sm Register for the Milwaukee Engineering

The authors investigated the differences in using problem decomposition and problem recomposition between dyads of engineering experts, engineering seniors, and engineering freshmen. Participants worked in dyads to complete an engineering design challenge within 1 hour. The entire design process was video and audio recorded. After the design…

A continuing challenge for engineers who utilize digital systems is to understand the impact of cyber-attacks across the entire product and program lifecycle. This is a challenge due to the evolving nature of cyber threats that may impact the design, development, deployment, and operational phases of all systems. Cyber Informed Engineering is the process by which engineers are made aware of both how to use their engineering knowledge to positively impact the cyber security in the processes by which they architect and design components and the services and security of the components themselves.

A continuing challenge for engineers who utilize digital systems is to understand the impact of cyber-attacks across the entire product and program lifecycle. This is a challenge due to the evolving nature of cyber threats that may impact the design, development, deployment, and operational phases of all systems. Cyber Informed Engineering is the process by which engineers are made aware of both how to use their engineering knowledge to positively impact the cyber security in the processes by which they architect and design components and the services and security of the components themselves.

The use of digital tools to develop products and production systems is state-of-the-art. The digital models created open new opportunities in the following phase of operation. Digital engineering can be used to furnish work systems with new intelligence, organize manufacturing and logistics systems resource efficiently, and develop new energy and transportation concepts based on convergent infrastructures. This talk presents examples of current research.

The application of biotechnology to the production of commodity products (fuels, chemicals, and materials) offering benefits in terms of sustainable resource supply and environmental quality is an emergent area of intellectual endeavor and industrial practice with great promise. Such "biocommodity engineering" is distinct from biotechnology motivated by health care at multiple levels, including economic driving forces, the importance of feedstocks and cost-motivated process engineering, and the scale of application. Plant biomass represents both the dominant foreseeable source of feedstocks for biotechnological processes as well as the only foreseeable sustainable source of organic fuels, chemicals, and materials. A variety of forms of biomass, notably many cellulosic feedstocks, are potentially available at a large scale and are cost-competitive with low-cost petroleum whether considered on a mass or energy basis, and in terms of price defined on a purchase or net basis for both current and projected mature technology, and on a transfer basis for mature technology. Thus the central, and we believe surmountable, impediment to more widespread application of biocommodity engineering is the general absence of low-cost processing technology. Technological and research challenges associated with converting plant biomass into commodity products are considered relative to overcoming the recalcitrance of cellulosic biomass (converting cellulosic biomass into reactive intermediates) and product diversification (converting reactive intermediates into useful products). Advances are needed in pretreatment technology to make cellulosic materials accessible to enzymatic hydrolysis, with increased attention to the fundamental chemistry operative in pretreatment processes likely to accelerate progress. Important biotechnological challenges related to the utilization of cellulosic biomass include developing cellulase enzymes and microorganisms to produce them, fermentation of

By its omnipresence in society, the energy question is at the heart of sustainable development issues. The engineer, as a central actor of human society development, is therefore tightly linked to the energy issue and he must actively contribute to resolve it by integrating to his practices the principles of sustainable development and by applying the solutions that arises. Part of these elements include as the main ones, listening to the consideration of citizens, becoming aware of the environment importance and reducing costs at all levels. The engineer is a social actor that cannot be ignored in the resolution of these issues. [French] Par son omnipresence dans la societe, la question energetique est au coeur des enjeux du developpement durable. L'ingenieur, etant un acteur central du developpement des societes humaines, est donc inextricablement lie a la question energetique qu'il doit contribuer activement a resoudre en integrant a sa pratique les principes du developpement durable et en appliquant les solutions qui en decoulent. Parmi ces elements, l'ecoute des considerations citoyennes, la prise de conscience de l'importance de l'environnement et la reduction des couts a tous les niveaux sont des elements centraux. L'ingenieur est un acteur social incontournable pour la resolution de ces enjeux.

This paper investigates the short-circuit behavior of a wind power plant for different types of wind turbines. Both symmetrical faults and unsymmetrical faults are investigated. The size of wind power plants (WPPs) keeps getting bigger and bigger. The number of wind plants in the U.S. has increased very rapidly in the past 10 years. It is projected that in the U.S., the total wind power generation will reach 330 GW by 2030. As the importance of WPPs increases, planning engi-neers must perform impact studies used to evaluate short-circuit current (SCC) contribution of the plant into the transmission network under different fault conditions. This information is needed to size the circuit breakers, to establish the proper sys-tem protection, and to choose the transient suppressor in the circuits within the WPP. This task can be challenging to protec-tion engineers due to the topology differences between different types of wind turbine generators (WTGs) and the conventional generating units. This paper investigates the short-circuit behavior of a WPP for different types of wind turbines. Both symmetrical faults and unsymmetrical faults are investigated. Three different soft-ware packages are utilized to develop this paper. Time domain simulations and steady-state calculations are used to perform the analysis.

Sustainability issues are increasingly important in engineering work all over the world. This article explores systematic differences in self-assessed competencies, interests, importance, engagement and practices of newly enrolled engineering students in Denmark in relation to environmental and non-environmental sustainability issues. The empirical base of the article is a nation-wide, web-based survey sent to all newly enrolled engineering students in Denmark commencing their education in the fall term 2010. The response rate was 46%. The survey focused on a variety of different aspects of what can be conceived as sustainability. By means of cluster analysis, three engineering student approaches to sustainability are identified and described. The article provides knowledge on the different prerequisites of engineering students in relation to the role of sustainability in engineering. This information is important input to educators trying to target new engineering students and contribute to the provision of engineers equipped to meet sustainability challenges.

As engineers today often work in intercultural projects and contexts, intercultural competences must be part of the learning objectives in engineering educations. Cultural aspects of engineering education should not just be treated as a question of appropriate communication and teaching: cultural...... aspects are basically part of engineering discipli¬nes, work challenges as well as the contextual elements in engineering curriculum [1,2]. This is reflected in the aims of the CDIO programme [3,4]; however, the programme, as well as the teaching practises, undoubtedly needs to further develop approaches...... to cultural aspects in engineering education. Hence the key-question of this paper is how CDIO support the development of intercultural competences in engineering education. The paper explores the implementation of CDIO in an intercultural arctic engineering programme in Greenland that since 2001 has been...

The demand for flexible engineers presents significant challenges to engineering education. Among these is the need for engineers to be prepared to understand and deal with organizational change. Yet engineering education and research on engineers have overlooked the impact of organizational change on engineering work. After outlining the impact…

Keira Sewell has just finished her second year as a Challenge Leader for the Faraday Challenge, a STEM-based scheme run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Aimed at 12-13 year-old students, its purpose is to engage students in future careers in engineering. Each year, a new challenge is held in over sixty schools and universities…

Engineering is not a subject that has historically been taught in elementary schools, but with the emphasis on engineering in the "Next Generation Science Standards," curricula are being developed to explicitly teach engineering content and design. However, many of the scientific investigations already conducted with students have…

The new Next Generation Science Standards make it a priority for schools to focus more on the E in STEM, to help students learn the skills and practices of engineering. Schools that are doing so face a challenge, however: How to design educational experiences in engineering that engage all students--including girls and minorities, who are…

Three British guys at CERN recently took a break from work to try their hand at Scrapheap Challenge. Shown on Channel 4 in the UK, it is a show where two teams must construct a machine for a specific task using only the junk they can scavenge from the scrap yard around them. And they have just 10 hours to build their contraption before it is put to the test. The first round, aired 19 September, pitted a team of three women, from the British Army's Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, against the CERN guys - the Up 'n Atoms: Ali Day, David McFarlane and James Ridewood. Each team, with the help of an appointed expert, had the task of making a giant, 3-metre self-propelled "bowling ball", to roll down a 50 metre bowling alley at skittles 4 metres high. The Up 'n Atoms' contraption featured a small car with a huge wheel on its back. Once up to speed, slamming on the brakes caused the wheel to roll over and take the car with it. On their very last run they managed to take out seven pins. Luckily, though, ...

A small commercial building in a nearby industrial park has decided to install a rooftop garden for its employees to enjoy. The garden will be about 100 feet long and 75 feet wide. This article presents a design challenge for technology and engineering students wherein they will assist in the initial conceptual design of the rooftop garden. The…

Electronic books available on trial at CERN Electronic preprints and journals have become tools used on a daily basis, but so far the CERN Library did not provide a significant collection of electronic books. This is now about to change, so searching for scientific information, and in particular engineering-related references, is now easier than ever before. CERN has access to the electronic book collection via Knovel on a trial base until Xmas. Knovel has a database of some of the leading engineering reference handbooks and conference proceedings, published by Reed Elsevier, ASME, ASM, Butterworth, CRC Press, McGraw-Hill and others. The full-text of all e-books can be searched simultaneously. Another Knovel feature allows users to search for data (materials properties) across the whole digital collection. The Web search engine and display interface has been developed to support a wide range of information and file types: text, tables, equations, graphics, figures. This new resource is linked to from the Libr...

Full Text Available The challenges proposed by the development of the new computer systems demand new guidance related to engineer´s education, because they will solve these problems. In the XXI century, system engineers must be able to integrate a number of topics and knowledge disciplines that complement that traditionally has been known as Computer Systems Engineering. We have enough software development engineers, today we need professional engineers for software integration, leaders and system architects that make the most of the technological development for the benefit of society, leaders that integrate sciences to the solutions they build and propose. In this article the current situation of Computer Systems Engineering is analyzed and is presented a theory proposing the need for modifying the approach Universities have given to these careers, to achieve the education of leader engineers according to the needs of this century.

The hydrodynamic loads on an offshore wind turbine's support structure present unique engineeringchallenges for offshore wind. Two typical approaches used for modeling these hydrodynamic loads are potential flow (PF) and strip theory (ST), the latter via Morison's equation. This study examines the first- and second-order wave-excitation surge forces on a fixed cylinder in regular waves computed by the PF and ST approaches to (1) verify their numerical implementations in HydroDyn and (2) understand when the ST approach breaks down. The numerical implementation of PF and ST in HydroDyn, a hydrodynamic time-domain solver implemented as a module in the FAST wind turbine engineering tool, was verified by showing the consistency in the first- and second-order force output between the two methods across a range of wave frequencies. ST is known to be invalid at high frequencies, and this study investigates where the ST solution diverges from the PF solution. Regular waves across a range of frequencies were run in HydroDyn for a monopile substructure. As expected, the solutions for the first-order (linear) wave-excitation loads resulting from these regular waves are similar for PF and ST when the diameter of the cylinder is small compared to the length of the waves (generally when the diameter-to-wavelength ratio is less than 0.2). The same finding applies to the solutions for second-order wave-excitation loads, but for much smaller diameter-to-wavelength ratios (based on wavelengths of first-order waves).

This article describes the steps incorporated to teach an engineering design process in a fifth-grade science classroom. The engineering design-based activity was an existing scientific inquiry activity using UV light--detecting beads and purposefully creating a series of engineering design-based challenges around the investigation. The…

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue shares information on how students' everyday experiences can support science learning through engineering design. In this article, the authors outline a reverse-engineering model of instruction and describe one example of how it looked in our fifth-grade…

Drivetrain design has significant influence on the costs of wind power generation. Current industry practices usually approach the drivetrain design with loads and system requirements defined by the turbine manufacturer. Several different manufacturers are contracted to supply individual components from the low-speed shaft to the generator - each receiving separate design specifications from the turbine manufacturer. Increasingly, more integrated approaches to turbine design have shown promise for blades and towers. Yet, integrated drivetrain design is a challenging task owing to the complex physical behavior of the important load-bearing components, namely the main bearings, gearbox, and the generator. In this paper we combine two of NREL's systems engineering design tools, DriveSE and GeneratorSE, to enable a comprehensive system-level drivetrain optimization for the IEAWind reference turbine for land-based applications. We compare a more traditional design with integrated approaches employing decoupled and coupled design optimization. It is demonstrated that both approaches have the potential to realize notable mass savings with opportunities to lower the costs of energy.

... the stress of the material used in their construction and thus a negative effect in their life spans. Therefore, the control strategy needs to be re-evaluated to include operating cost, and extending...

To rigorously assess the tools and protocols that can be used to understand and predict macromolecular recognition, and to gain more structural insight into three newly discovered allosteric binding sites on a critical drug target involved in the treatment of HIV infections, the Olson and Levy labs collaborated on the SAMPL4 challenge. This computational blind challenge involved predicting protein-ligand binding against the three allosteric sites of HIV integrase (IN), a viral enzyme for which two drugs (that target the active site) have been approved by the FDA. Positive control cross-docking experiments were utilized to select 13 receptor models out of an initial ensemble of 41 different crystal structures of HIV IN. These 13 models of the targets were selected using our new "Rank Difference Ratio" metric. The first stage of SAMPL4 involved using virtual screens to identify 62 active, allosteric IN inhibitors out of a set of 321 compounds. The second stage involved predicting the binding site(s) and crystallographic binding mode(s) for 57 of these inhibitors. Our team submitted four entries for the first stage that utilized: (1) AutoDock Vina (AD Vina) plus visual inspection; (2) a new common pharmacophore engine; (3) BEDAM replica exchange free energy simulations, and a Consensus approach that combined the predictions of all three strategies. Even with the SAMPL4's very challenging compound library that displayed a significantly lower amount of structural diversity than most libraries that are conventionally employed in prospective virtual screens, these approaches produced hit rates of 24, 25, 34, and 27 %, respectively, on a set with 19 % declared binders. Our only entry for the second stage challenge was based on the results of AD Vina plus visual inspection, and it ranked third place overall according to several different metrics provided by the SAMPL4 organizers. The successful results displayed by these approaches highlight the utility of the computational

To rigorously assess the tools and protocols that can be used to understand and predict macromolecular recognition, and to gain more structural insight into three newly discovered allosteric binding sites on a critical drug target involved in the treatment of HIV infections, the Olson and Levy labs collaborated on the SAMPL4 challenge. This computational blind challenge involved predicting protein-ligand binding against the three allosteric sites of HIV integrase (IN), a viral enzyme for which two drugs (that target the active site) have been approved by the FDA. Positive control cross-docking experiments were utilized to select 13 receptor models out of an initial ensemble of 41 different crystal structures of HIV IN. These 13 models of the targets were selected using our new "Rank Difference Ratio" metric. The first stage of SAMPL4 involved using virtual screens to identify 62 active, allosteric IN inhibitors out of a set of 321 compounds. The second stage involved predicting the binding site(s) and crystallographic binding mode(s) for 57 of these inhibitors. Our team submitted four entries for the first stage that utilized: (1) AutoDock Vina (AD Vina) plus visual inspection; (2) a new common pharmacophore engine; (3) BEDAM replica exchange free energy simulations, and a Consensus approach that combined the predictions of all three strategies. Even with the SAMPL4's very challenging compound library that displayed a significantly lower amount of structural diversity than most libraries that are conventionally employed in prospective virtual screens, these approaches produced hit rates of 24, 25, 34, and 27 %, respectively, on a set with 19 % declared binders. Our only entry for the second stage challenge was based on the results of AD Vina plus visual inspection, and it ranked third place overall according to several different metrics provided by the SAMPL4 organizers. The successful results displayed by these approaches highlight the utility of the computational

The book describes the basic principles of transforming nano-technology into nano-engineering with a particular focus on chemical engineering fundamentals. This book provides vital information about differences between descriptive technology and quantitative engineering for students as well as working professionals in various fields of nanotechnology. Besides chemical engineering principles, the fundamentals of nanotechnology are also covered along with detailed explanation of several specific nanoscale processes from chemical engineering point of view. This information is presented in form of practical examples and case studies that help the engineers and researchers to integrate the processes which can meet the commercial production. It is worth mentioning here that, the main challenge in nanostructure and nanodevices production is nowadays related to the economic point of view. The uniqueness of this book is a balance between important insights into the synthetic methods of nano-structures and nanomaterial...

In order to meet the challenges of sustainable development, our approach to education must be modified to equip students to evaluate alternatives and devise solutions that meet multi-faceted requirements. In 2009, faculty in the Departments of Civil, Industrial and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington began implementation…

Full Text Available ... breastfeeding Overcoming challenges Common questions about breastfeeding and pain Breastfeeding checklist: How to get a good latch Finding ... myths Overcoming challenges Common questions about breastfeeding and pain Breastfeeding checklist: How to get a good latch Finding ...

This book tells of engineer ethics such as basic understanding of engineer ethics with history of engineering as a occupation, definition of engineering and specialized job and engineering, engineer ethics as professional ethics, general principles of ethics and its limitation, ethical theory and application, technique to solve the ethical problems, responsibility, safety and danger, information engineer ethics, biotechnological ethics like artificial insemination, life reproduction, gene therapy and environmental ethics.

Engineering Viscoelasticity covers all aspects of the thermo- mechanical response of viscoelastic substances that a practitioner in the field of viscoelasticity would need to design experiments, interpret test data, develop stress-strain models, perform stress analyses, design structural components, and carry out research work. The material in each chapter is developed from the elementary to the advanced, providing the background in mathematics and mechanics that are central to understanding the subject matter being presented. The book examines how viscoelastic materials respond to the application of loads, and provides practical guidelines to use them in the design of commercial, military and industrial applications. This book also: · Facilitates conceptual understanding by progressing in each chapter from elementary to challenging material · Examines in detail both differential and integral constitutive equations, devoting full chapters to each type and using both forms in ...

Engineering offers new educational opportunities for students, yet also poses challenges about how to conceptualize the disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices of the disciplinary fields of engineering. In this paper, we draw from empirical studies of engineering in professional and school settings to…

Full Text Available It is of crucial importance the integration of practical sessions in engineering curricula owing to their significant role in understanding engineering concepts and scientific phenomena. However, the lack of practical sessions due to the high costs of the equipment and the unavailability of instructors has caused a significant declination in experimentation in engineering education. Remote laboratories have tackled this issues providing online reusable and shared workbenches unconstrained by neither geographical nor time considerations. Thereby, they have extremely proliferated among universities and integrated into engineering curricula over the last decade. This contribution compiles diverse experiences based on the deployment of the remote laboratory, Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR, on the practices of undergraduate engineering grades at various universities within the VISIR community. It aims to show the impact of its usage on engineering education concerning the assessments of students and teachers as well. In addition, the paper address the next challenges and future works carried out at several universities within the VISIR community.

BeamDyn, a Legendre-spectral-finite-element implementation of geometrically exact beam theory (GEBT), was developed to meet the design challenges associated with highly flexible composite wind turbine blades. In this paper, the governing equations of GEBT are reformulated into a nonlinear state-space form to support its coupling within the modular framework of the FAST wind turbine computer-aided engineering (CAE) tool. Different time integration schemes (implicit and explicit) were implemented and examined for wind turbine analysis. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the capability of this new beam solver. An example analysis of a realistic wind turbine blade, the CX-100, is also presented as validation.

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) constructs residential housing throughout the country using a basic template that must meet the minimum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver criteria or better for the units. In Kodiak, Alaska, USCG is procuring between 24 and 100 residential multi-family housing units. Priorities for the Kodiak project were to reduce overall energyconsumption by at least 20% over existing units, improve envelope construction, and evaluate space heating options. USCG is challenged with maintaining similar existing units that have complicated residential diesel boilers. Additionally, fuel and material costs are high in Kodiak. While USCG has worked to optimize the performance of the housing units with principles of improved buildingenvelope, the engineers realize there are still opportunities for improvement, especially within the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and different envelope measures. USCG staff also desires to balance higher upfront project costs for significantly reduced life-cycle costs of the residential units that have an expected lifetime of 50 or more years. To answer thesequestions, this analysis used the residential modeling tool BEoptE+ to examine potential energy- saving opportunities for the climate. The results suggest criteria for achieving optimized housing performance at the lowest cost. USCG will integrate the criteria into their procurement process. To achieve greater than 50% energy savings, USCG will need to specify full 2x 6 wood stud R-21 insulationwith two 2 inches of exterior foam, R-38 ceiling insulation or even wall insulation in the crawl space, and R-49 fiberglass batts in a the vented attic. The air barrier should be improved to ensure a tight envelope with minimal infiltration to the goal of 2.0 ACH50. With the implementation of an air source heat pump for space heating requirements, the combination of HVAC and envelope savings inthe residential unit can save

Recent policy developments in the Department of Defense (DOD) impose new and significant challenges for the Nation's strategic engineering directorate, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). DOD Directive...

Full Text Available Ever since man invented fire he has been more frequently burning himself by this creation than by the naturally occurring bushfires. It is estimated that over 1.152 million people in India suffer from burn injuries requiring treatment every year and majority of them are women aged between 16-40 years and most of them occur in the kitchen. The treatment for burns basically involves autologous skin grafting, which originated in India more than two thousand years ago (Sushruta Samhita, is still the gold standard for the wound resurfacing, although, autografting is difficult where graftable donor sites are limited. Although, Cadaver skin, porcine or bovine xenografts are used alternatively over the past thirty years, modern approaches like the Bioengineering of skin substitutes emerged during the past 20 years as advanced wound management technologies with no social impediment. They can be broadly categorized as Acellular and Cellular biotechnological products. The acellular products like Alloderm (LifeCell Corporation, Integra (Integra Life Sciences act like template and depend on natural regeneration, while the cellular ones are either ‘Off-the-Shelf’ products like Apligraf (Organogenesis Inc and Orcel (Ortec International have allogenic elements and ‘home grown’ autologous cell products like Cultured Epithelial Autograft (CEA and epidermal-dermal composite skin use synthetic or natural non-human matrices. The CEA is based on the ex-vivo epidermal stem cell-expansion and our laboratory has been engaged in CEA technique development with innovative cost-effective approach and yielded promising preliminary clinical success. The basic methodological approach in CEA technique which is still clinically adopted by several developed countries involves the use of growth arrested mouse dermal fibroblasts as growth supportive matrix and is thus considered a drawback as a whole. Additionally, there is no superior enough method available to augment the growth of human keratinocyte stem cells capable of producing epithelia for large-scale grafting in burns and maintain long-term functionality as a self-renewing tissue. The normal functioning of such an in vitro constructed graft under long-term artificial growth conditions is limited by the difficulties of maintaining the epidermal stem cell compartment. An apparent answer to this problem of stem cell depletion during autograft preparation would be to start with a pure population of progenitor stem cells and derive sustainable autograft from them. We have been aiming to this solution and currently attempting to isolate a pool of epidermal progenitor cells using Mebiol gel, which is a Thermo-Reversible Gelation polymer and was shown by others to support the growth of multi-potent skin-derived epithelial progenitor-1 cells. Additionally, the usefulness of Mebiol gel in maintaining epidermal stem cell compartment without FBS and/or animal origin feeder cells is being investigated by our group.

"Even at the world's soon-to-be largest particle accelerator - a device that promises to push the boundaries of physics - scientists need to be mindful of one of the most fundamental laws in the universe: Murphy's Law. (2 pages)

The increasing complexity of the new breed of distributed intelligent systems, such as the Internet of Things, which require a diversity of languages and protocols, can only be tamed with design and programming best practices. Interest is also growing for including the human factor, as advocated by the "ambient intelligence" (AmI)…

With the world-wide increase of patients with renal failure, the development of functional renal replacement therapies have gained significant interest and novel technologies are rapidly evolving. Currently used renal replacement therapies insufficiently remove accumulating waste products, resulting

The WWW has turned into a development and run-time environment for large-scale and complex applications. Such sophisticated applications are being deployed in increasing numbers without having been developed according to appropriate methodologies and quality standards. The main reason for this ad

of this review is to inform practitioners with the most updated information on tissue engineering and its potential applications in dentistry. The authors used "PUBMED" to find relevant literature written in English and published from the beginning of tissue engineering until today. A combination of keywords was used as the search terms e.g., "tissue engineering", "approaches", "strategies" "dentistry", "dental stem cells", "dentino-pulp complex", "guided tissue regeneration", "whole tooth", "TMJ", "condyle", "salivary glands", and "oral mucosa". Abstracts and full text articles were used to identify causes of craniofacial tissue loss, different approaches for craniofacial reconstructions, how the tissue engineering emerges, different strategies of tissue engineering, biomaterials employed for this purpose, the major attempts to engineer different dental structures, finally challenges and future of tissue engineering in dentistry. Only those articles that dealt with the tissue engineering in dentistry were selected. There have been a recent surge in guided tissue engineering methods to manage periodontal diseases beyond the traditional approaches. However, the predictable reconstruction of the innate organisation and function of whole teeth as well as their periodontal structures remains challenging. Despite some limited progress and minor successes, there remain distinct and important challenges in the development of reproducible and clinically safe approaches for oral tissue repair and regeneration. Clearly, there is a convincing body of evidence which confirms the need for this type of treatment, and public health data worldwide indicates a more than adequate patient resource. The future of these therapies involving more biological approaches and the use of dental tissue stem cells is promising and advancing. Also there may be a significant interest of their application and wider potential to treat disorders beyond the craniofacial region. Considering the

A brief account of the research and development activities carried out in the Department of Heavy Ion Physics, Institute of Atomic Physics, Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest, during the period January 1992 to December 1993 is presented. The main topics concern nuclear structure models and methods, heavy-ion-induced reactions, and general properties of nuclei and nuclear energy levels. Also, works dealing with particle detection, measuring instruments and methods are reported. The report contains two sections. The first covers the research in progress in the fields of nuclear structure, nuclear reactions, atomic physics, accelerator, instrumentation, methods and computer codes. The second one, the appendix, contains the list of publications of the Department staff in journals and proceedings, books, and preprints, the conference contributions, the academic degrees awarded, the scientific exchanges, and the list of scientific personnel

Nigerian engineering teaching style and outputs, some of the challenges being faced by engineering education in. Nigeria .... feelings and reactions of the students in this situation ...... new century," Chemical Engineering Education, vol. 34, pp ...

Cryogenic engineering is one of the key technologies at CERN. It is widely used in research and has many applications in industry and last but not least in medicine. In research cryogenic engineering and its applications are omnipresent from the smallest laboratories to fusion reactors, hughe detectors and accelerators. With the termination of the LHC, CERN will in fact become the world's largest cryogenic installation. This series of talks intends to introduce the non-cryogenist to the basic principles and challenges of cryogenic engineering and its applications. The course will also provide a basis for practical application as well as for further learning.

In this challenging hydropower market, hydropower engineering services are in high demand. The number of new hydropower projects entering the pipeline may have slowed in recent years but that does not mean work is not being done. Independent developers, utilities and municipalities are carrying out a considerable amount of hydropower activity. Whatever the work involves - preliminary planning, licensing and relicensing, environmental mitigation, plant rehabilitation or new-plant startup - engineering firms are finding a brisk market for their services. The complexity of the regulatory framework makes hydropower facility and other water resource work more important then ever. Executives of three engineering firms - Acres International, Harza Engineering and Black and Veatch - active in these areas discuss their views on the future of the hydropower engineering market

The International Conference on Information Engineering and Applications (IEA) 2011 will be held on October 21-24, 2011, in Chongqing, China. It is organized by Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Nanyang Technological University, the University of Michigan, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, and sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The objective of IEA 2011 is to facilitate an exchange of information on best practices for the latest research advances in the area of information engineering and intelligence applications, which mainly includes computer science and engineering, informatics, communications and control, electrical engineering, information computing, business intelligence and management. IEA 2011 will provide a forum for engineers and scientists in academia, industry, and government to address the most innovative research and development including technical challenges, social and economic issues, and to present and disc...

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA faces many systems engineeringchallenges as it seeks to conduct exploration and science missions concurrently. One such challenge is implementing a repeatable...

The pattern of education and training of Nuclear Engineers in the UK is outlined under the headings; degree courses for professional engineers, postgraduate courses, education of technician engineers. Universities which offer specific courses are stated and useful addresses listed. (UK)

In industrial informatics, engineering data intensive Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) is a challenging task without abstraction and partitioning. Further, the introduction of semi-structured data (namely XML) and its rapid adaptation by the commercial and industrial systems increased the

Compared to land-based applications, offshore wind imposes challenges for the development of next generation wind turbine generator technology. Direct-drive generators are believed to offer high availability, efficiency, and reduced operation and maintenance requirements; however, previous research suggests difficulties in scaling to several megawatts or more in size. The resulting designs are excessively large and/or massive, which are major impediments to transportation logistics, especially for offshore applications. At the same time, geared wind turbines continue to sustain offshore market growth through relatively cheaper and lightweight generators. However, reliability issues associated with mechanical components in a geared system create significant operation and maintenance costs, and these costs make up a large portion of overall system costs offshore. Thus, direct-drive turbines are likely to outnumber their gear-driven counterparts for this market, and there is a need to review the costs or opportunities of building machines with different types of generators and examining their competitiveness at the sizes necessary for the next generation of offshore wind turbines. In this paper, we use GeneratorSE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's newly developed systems engineering generator sizing tool to estimate mass, efficiency, and the costs of different generator technologies satisfying the electromagnetic, structural, and basic thermal design requirements for application in a very large-scale offshore wind turbine such as the Technical University of Denmark's (DTU) 10-MW reference wind turbine. For the DTU reference wind turbine, we use the previously mentioned criteria to optimize a direct-drive, radial flux, permanent-magnet synchronous generator; a direct-drive electrically excited synchronous generator; a medium-speed permanent-magnet generator; and a high-speed, doubly-fed induction generator. Preliminary analysis of leveled costs of

specific climatic challenge or clean the air. With nanotechnology, the artificial and the natural move closer together; this is the perspective for civil engineer Chris McCarthy’s work all over the world. And what is new is not just the way the construction materials are put together; they also require......Foreword B150 –Civil Engineering Futures consists of interviews made, articles written, and projects presented in connection with the 150th anniversary celebrations of the study of civil engineering in Denmark. Instead of a historical retrospect, it was decided to look into the future. What...... challenges will the next 150 years bring civil engineers? Researchers and lecturers at DTU’s Department of Civil Engineering (known as DTU Byg) suggested possible events, and we also consulted civil engineers and their business partners in the building industry. In this way, a programme was put together...

The brochure under consideration consists of contributions to the following aspects: (1) the ATZ ranking of the Top 75 of the companies providing development service; (2) Challenges and opportunities of hybrid vehicles: (3) Localization of sound sources; (4) Sectoral index engineering services.

Recent studies have argued a shift of thinking about engineering practice from a linear conception to a system understanding. The complexity of engineering practice has been thought of as the root of challenges for engineers. Moreover, creativity has been emphasised as one key capability that engineering students should master. This paper aims to…

This article summarizes presentations and discussion at the workshop "Enabling Biomaterial Technology for Tissue Engineering," which was held during the Fifth World Biomaterials Congress in May 1996. Presentations covered the areas of material substrate architecture, barrier effects, and cellular response, including analysis of biomaterials challenges involved in producing specific tissue-engineered products.

Collaboration is often presented as the solution to numerous problems in business and society. However, collaboration is challenging, and collaboration support is not an off-the-shelf-product. This research offers theoretical foundations for Collaboration Engineering. Collaboration Engineering is an

This book provides discussions and the exchange of information on principles, strategies, models, techniques, methodologies and applications of industrial engineering. It communicates the latest developments and research activity on industrial engineering and is useful for all those interested in the technological challenges in the field.

PBL in Engineering Education: International Perspectives on Curriculum Change presents diverse views on the implementation of PBL from across the globe. The purpose is to exemplify curriculum changes in engineering education. Drivers for change, implementation descriptions, challenges and future...... perspectives are addressed. Cases of PBL models are presented from Singapore, Malaysia, Tunisia, Portugal, Spain and the USA. These cases are stories of thriving success that can be an inspiration for those who aim to implement PBL and change their engineering education practices. In the examples presented......, the change processes imply a transformation of vision and values of what learning should be, triggering a transition from traditional learning to PBL. In this sense, PBL is also a learning philosophy and different drivers, facing diverse challenges and involving different actors, trigger its implementation...

Nowadays, Web applications are almost omnipresent. The Web has become a platform not only for information delivery, but also for eCommerce systems, social networks, mobile services, and distributed learning environments. Engineering Web applications involves many intrinsic challenges due...... to their distributed nature, content orientation, and the requirement to make them available to a wide spectrum of users who are unknown in advance. The authors discuss these challenges in the context of well-established engineering processes, covering the whole product lifecycle from requirements engineering through...... design and implementation to deployment and maintenance. They stress the importance of models in Web application development, and they compare well-known Web-specific development processes like WebML, WSDM and OOHDM to traditional software development approaches like the waterfall model and the spiral...

The wind engineering community relies on multiphysics engineering software to run nonlinear time-domain simulations e.g. for design-standards-based loads analysis. Although most physics involved in wind energy are nonlinear, linearization of the underlying nonlinear system equations is often advantageous to understand the system response and exploit well-established methods and tools for analyzing linear systems. This paper presents the development and verification of the new linearization functionality of the open-source engineering tool FAST v8 for land-based wind turbines, as well as the concepts and mathematical background needed to understand and apply it correctly.

Full Text Available ... menu It's Only Natural Planning ahead Breastfeeding and baby basics Making breastfeeding work for you Addressing breastfeeding ... in the African-American community Incredible facts about babies, breastmilk, and breastfeeding Overcoming challenges Common questions about ...

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This paper discusses how the American Petroleum Institute oil and gas standards were interfaced with International Electrotechnical Commission and other wind turbine and offshore industry standards to provide guidance for reliable engineering design practices for offshore wind energy systems.

main system consists of four subsystems called Engines: three rendering engines for visual, audio and special effects multimodal simulation and a...and display technology available. The key technologies used in this MR system are Open Scene Graph and Cal3D for graphics, Port Audio for sound, and...Reality, Visualisation and Interaction in Africa, Cape Town, Feb. 3-5, 2003 [48] Rauhala, M., Gunnarsson, A., Henrysson, A., Ynnerman, A., "A Novel

Full Text Available Abstract. The current and rising challenges in engineering education demand graduate engineers who are well-prepared to provide innovative solutions as technical specialists, system integrators and change agents. Realizing the importance of producing a highly competent manpower, the Malaysian Government has put considerable pressure to the universities to produce engineers who are competitive in the global market. Hence, this assignment of developing a highly competence engineering technologist workforce in support of the government policy highlights issues pertaining to the development and offering of practical-oriented programs as a knowledge expansion in engineering education at universities as envisioned by the Malaysian Government. This paper evaluates the current scenario and examines the application-oriented programs of engineering technology education as practice in local institutions in Malaysia in comparisons to some universities abroad. It also investigates the challenges faced by university management in dealing with issues concerning national quality assurance and accreditation pertaining to the engineering technology education programs. Specifically, it analyzes the faculty planning of pedagogies in term of hands-on skills in teaching and learning. A key conclusion of this research is that Malaysian universities need to evaluate its engineering technology education strategies if they aim for quality assurance and accreditation to be established and aspire for successful attempts towards the creation of the requisite knowledge workers that Malaysia needs.Keywords: application-oriented, engineering education, engineering technology, hands-on skills, knowledge expansion

This book deals with research in open challenges in Management Engineering in the 21st century, as well as selected opportunities and solutions to remedy them. Management Engineering is an emerging field that extends the analytical methods used in traditional Industrial Engineering and Industrial Organization to address the economic, behavioral and social dimensions of companies and their environments. Management Engineering extends its domain beyond the firm and the market to encompass the modeling and policy design of physical landscapes populated by social agents. The developments of the 21st century have made it necessary to adopt an integrative and global view of the different methodologies and tools that facilitate managers’ decision-making processes, ranging from the strategic to the operational level. This book equips readers with precisely these urgently needed resources.

Integrating security concerns throughout the whole software development process is one of today’s challenges in software and requirements engineering research. A challenge that so far has proved difficult to meet. The major difficulty is that providing security does not only require to solve

The future challenges to medical and biological engineering, sometimes referred to as biomedical engineering or simply bioengineering, are many. Some of these are identifiable now and others will emerge from time to time as new technologies are introduced and harnessed. There is a fundamental issue regarding "Branding the bio/biomedical engineering degree" that requires a common understanding of what is meant by a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, or Biological Engineering. In this paper we address some of the issues involved in branding the Bio/Biomedical Engineering degree, with the aim of clarifying the Bio/Biomedical Engineering brand.

Changes or modifications have always been a fundamental part of product- and service design, yet they are often costly and potentially decrease overall development efficiency and effectiveness. How Danish manufacturing firms are able to improve engineering change management practice is a decisive......, challenges, and strategies for improved engineering change management of more than 90 engineering firms from different industry sectors and sizes in Denmark. In particular, the report presents an overview of current practice of engineering change management in Denmark, shows the extent to which engineering...... implementation, with software use in comparison being surprisingly low. The biggest problems listed range from engineering change process support to internal and external communication and the need for company-internal awareness and competence training for better engineering change management. The biggest need...

Superficially, evolutionary engineering is a paradoxical field that balances competing interests. In natural settings, evolution iteratively selects and enriches subpopulations that are best adapted to a particular ecological niche using random processes such as genetic mutation. In engineering desired approaches utilize rational prospective design to address targeted problems. When considering details of evolutionary and engineering processes, more commonality can be found. Engineering relies on detailed knowledge of the problem parameters and design properties in order to predict design outcomes that would be an optimized solution. When detailed knowledge of a system is lacking, engineers often employ algorithmic search strategies to identify empirical solutions. Evolution epitomizes this iterative optimization by continuously diversifying design options from a parental design, and then selecting the progeny designs that represent satisfactory solutions. In this chapter, the technique of applying the natural principles of evolution to engineer microbes for industrial applications is discussed to highlight the challenges and principles of evolutionary engineering.

This article summarizes the views expressed at the third session of the workshop “Tissue Engineering—The Next Generation,” which was devoted to the engineering of complex tissue structures. Antonios Mikos described the engineering of complex oral and craniofacial tissues as a “guided interplay” between biomaterial scaffolds, growth factors, and local cell populations toward the restoration of the original architecture and function of complex tissues. Susan Herring, reviewing osteogenesis and vasculogenesis, explained that the vascular arrangement precedes and dictates the architecture of the new bone, and proposed that engineering of osseous tissues might benefit from preconstruction of an appropriate vasculature. Jennifer Elisseeff explored the formation of complex tissue structures based on the example of stratified cartilage engineered using stem cells and hydrogels. Helen Lu discussed engineering of tissue interfaces, a problem critical for biological fixation of tendons and ligaments, and the development of a new generation of fixation devices. Rita Kandel discussed the challenges related to the re-creation of the cartilage-bone interface, in the context of tissue engineered joint repair. Frederick Schoen emphasized, in the context of heart valve engineering, the need for including the requirements derived from “adult biology” of tissue remodeling and establishing reliable early predictors of success or failure of tissue engineered implants. Mehmet Toner presented a review of biopreservation techniques and stressed that a new breakthrough in this field may be necessary to meet all the needs of tissue engineering. David Mooney described systems providing temporal and spatial regulation of growth factor availability, which may find utility in virtually all tissue engineering and regeneration applications, including directed in vitro and in vivo vascularization of tissues. Anthony Atala offered a clinician’s perspective for functional tissue

In order to attract more young people into engineering\\ud and ensure that they are well equipped to meet\\ud future professional challenges we need to know how successful\\ud engineers think and act when faced with challenging\\ud problems. Using a mixed methods approach this study investigated\\ud the habits of mind that engineers use most frequently\\ud when engaged in the core activity of “making”\\ud things or “making things work better”. We identified the six\\ud most distinctive learning dispo...

Industrial engineering is a discipline that is concerned with increasing the effectiveness of (primarily) manufacturing and (occasionally).......Industrial engineering is a discipline that is concerned with increasing the effectiveness of (primarily) manufacturing and (occasionally)....

Looks at computer engineers and describes their job, employment outlook, earnings, and training and qualifications. Provides a list of resources related to computer engineering careers and the computer industry. (JOW)

Requirements engineering is one of the fundamental knowledge areas in software and systems engineering graduate curricula. Recent changes in educational delivery and student demographics have created new challenges for requirements engineering education. In particular, there is an increasing demand for online education for working professionals.…

The contents include the following: Development and the Environment: A Global Balance; Evolution of the World Bank's Environmental Policy; Accounting for the Environment; Public Policy and the Environment; Managing Drylands; Environmental Action Plans in Africa; Agroforestry in Sub-Saharan Africa; Irrigation and the Environmental Challenge; Curbing Pollution in Developing Countries; Global Warming and the Developing World; and The Global Environment Facility

depends on the conceptual or ideological constellation in which it takes part. This volume on one hand demonstrates the role of notions of identity in a variety of European contexts, and on the other hand highlights how there may be reasons to challenge the use of the term and corresponding social...

Full Text Available ... Contact Us Blog Popular topics Vision and mission Leadership Programs and activities In your community Funding opportunities Internships and jobs View all pages in this section Home It's Only Natural Overcoming challenges It's Only Natural Planning ahead Addressing breastfeeding myths ...

Full Text Available ... we are What we do Programs and activities Work with us Contact Us Blog Popular topics Vision and mission Leadership Programs and activities In your community Funding opportunities Internships and jobs View all pages in this section Home It's Only Natural Overcoming challenges It's Only Natural ...

The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) promotes the endeavour of the practitioners of engineering and technology and related sciences to solve the problems of national importance. The book is an initiative of the INAE and a reflection of the experiences of some of the Fellows of the INAE in the fields of science, technology and engineering. The book is about the reminiscences, eureka moments, inspirations, challenges and opportunities in the journey the professionals took toward self-realisation and the goals they achieved. The book contains 58 articles on diverse topics that truly reflects the way the meaningful mind of an engineer works. .

The project known as Thal Ammonia Extension was a heavy water project successfully completed by Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) Ltd. The project consisted of erecting a heavy water plant of 110 tons/year capacity at Thal. The process Know-how and engineering of the plant was supplied by the Heavy Water Projects Division of the Department of Atomic Energy. Salient features of the project, management features which resulted in fast completion of erection, bottlenecks faced and engineering innovations adopted for efficient operation of the plant are described. Some modifications which can lead to smoother operation are listed. (M.G.B.)

Building simulation enables users to explore and evaluate multiple building designs. When tools for optimization, parametrics, and uncertainty analysis are combined with analysis engines, the sheer number of discrete simulation datasets makes it difficult to keep track of the inputs. The integrity of the input data is critical to designers, engineers, and researchers for code compliance, validation, and building commissioning long after the simulations are finished. This paper discusses an application that stores inputs needed for building energy modeling in a searchable, indexable, flexible, and scalable database to help address the problem of managing simulation input data.

This book deals with colloidal systems in technical processes and the influence of colloidal systems by technical processes. It explores how new measurement capabilities can offer the potential for a dynamic development of scientific and engineering, and examines the origin of colloidal systems and its use for new products. The future challenges to colloidal process engineering are the development of appropriate equipment and processes for the production and obtainment of multi-phase structures and energetic interactions in market-relevant quantities. The book explores the relevant processes and for controlled production and how they can be used across all scales.

The use of electric power substations in generation, transmission, and distribution remains one of the most challenging and exciting areas of electric power engineering. Recent technological developments have had a tremendous impact on all aspects of substation design and operation. With 80% of its chapters completely revised and two brand-new chapters on energy storage and Smart Grids, Electric Power Substations Engineering, Third Edition provides an extensive updated overview of substations, serving as a reference and guide for both industry and academia. Contributors have written each chapt

The book presents state-of-the-art works in computational engineering. Focus is on mathematical modeling, numerical simulation, experimental validation and visualization in engineering sciences. In particular, the following topics are presented: constitutive models and their implementation into finite element codes, numerical models in nonlinear elasto-dynamics including seismic excitations, multiphase models in structural engineering and multiscale models of materials systems, sensitivity and reliability analysis of engineering structures, the application of scientific computing in urban water management and hydraulic engineering, and the application of genetic algorithms for the registration of laser scanner point clouds.

Increasingly viewed as the future of medicine, the field of tissue engineering is still in its infancy. As evidenced in both the scientific and popular press, there exists considerable excitement surrounding the strategy of regenerative medicine. To achieve its highest potential, a series of technological advances must be made. Putting the numerous breakthroughs made in this field into a broad context, Tissue Engineering disseminates current thinking on the development of engineered tissues. Divided into three sections, the book covers the fundamentals of tissue engineering, enabling technologies, and tissue engineering applications. It examines the properties of stem cells, primary cells, growth factors, and extracellular matrix as well as their impact on the development of tissue engineered devices. Contributions focus on those strategies typically incorporated into tissue engineered devices or utilized in their development, including scaffolds, nanocomposites, bioreactors, drug delivery systems, and gene t...

K-12 standards and curricula are beginning to include engineering design as a key practice within Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. However, there is little research on how the youngest students engage in engineering design within the elementary classroom. This dissertation focuses on iteration as an essential aspect of engineering design, and because research at the college and professional level suggests iteration improves the designer's understanding of problems and the quality of design solutions. My research presents qualitative case studies of students in kindergarten and third-grade as they engage in classroom engineering design challenges which integrate with traditional curricula standards in mathematics, science, and literature. I discuss my results through the lens of activity theory, emphasizing practices, goals, and mediating resources. Through three chapters, I provide insight into how early-elementary students iterate upon their designs by characterizing the ways in which lesson design impacts testing and revision, by analyzing the plan-driven and experimentation-driven approaches that student groups use when solving engineering design challenges, and by investigating how students attend to constraints within the challenge. I connect these findings to teacher practices and curriculum design in order to suggest methods of promoting iteration within open-ended, classroom-based engineering design challenges. This dissertation contributes to the field of engineering education by providing evidence of productive engineering practices in young students and support for the value of engineering design challenges in developing students' participation and agency in these practices.

This paper describes the Energy Design Plugin, a new software plugin that aims to integrate simulation as a tool during the earliest phases of the design process. The plugin couples the EnergyPlus whole-building simulation engine to the Google SketchUp drawing program.

Geophysical exploration for engineering purposes is conducted to decrease the risk in encountering site uncertainties in construction of underground facilities. Current responsibilities, opportunities and challenges for those with geophysical expertise are defined. These include: replacing the squiggly line format, developing verification sites for method evaluations, applying knowledge engineering and assuming responsibility for crucial national problems involving rock mechanics expertise

Industrial companies observe a general trend towards more customised products and shorter product life cycles. Furthermore, the market demands shorter lead-time and high-quality products at a competitive price. Concurrent Engineering address these challenges. Product modelling is a key aspect...... of the Concurrent Engineering literature. One problem with the product modelling literature is that it tends to assume that product development is revolutionary. Very often product development is evolutionary and it means that product modelling should have a major emphasis on reuse. In this paper it is suggested...... that industrial companies should develop an engineering development Bereitschaft (preparatory engineering knowledge) as an approach to Concurrent Engineering and product modelling. To develop such an engineering development Bereitschaft, a company must develop company generic product models.This paper...

This article takes point of departure in the challenges to understand the importance of contemporary mobility. The approach advocated is a cross-disciplinary one drawing on sociology, geography, urban planning and design, and cultural studies. As such the perspective is to be seen as a part...... of the so-called ‘mobility turn’ within social science. The perspective is illustrative for the research efforts at the Centre for Mobility and Urban Studies (C-MUS), Aalborg University. The article presents the contours of a theoretical perspective meeting the challenges to research into contemporary urban...... mobilities. In particular the article discusses 1) the physical city, its infrastructures and technological hardware/software, 2) policies and planning strategies for urban mobility and 3) the lived everyday life in the city and the region....

Rapidly occurring technological breakthroughs in the wake of numerous discoveries in different fields, such as biochemistry, genetic engineering as well as cellular and molecular biology as described in this paper have a variety of industrial applications, and forcasts covering these and various other fields have been made. The emerging bio-industry, covering diverse industries, such as chemical, food, pharmaceutical, etc., as well as the domains of health, environmental protection and abatement of pollution present challenging prospects. Several biotechnology processes relating to bioenergy, fermentation, waste transformation, vaccines, etc. are of particular interest to the developing countries. The 'functioning systems' resulting from the breakthrouth in genetic engineering, entailing extraordinary refinement of analytical techniques and technological progress, pose the challenging task of harnessing them to the advantage of mankind. Providing effective legal protection, conducive to the development of biotechnologies-their innovative process and technological change-is a matter of serious concern, involving practical and economical considerations. Several other issues and questions, such as risk prevention and management of potential dangers and hazards in genetic recombination operation by way of safety regulations and necessary guidelines, questions relating to the clinical trials of the interferons-the wonder drug-as well as questions of professional ethics are raised by biotechnologies. Industry-funded research in biotechnology, where scientific and commercial imperatives are interlocked, has for instance, its repercussions on the traditional thrust of university system, specially the sanctity of autonomy for basic research.

With the growth of public and private data stores and the emergence of off-the-shelf data-mining technology, recommendation systems have emerged that specifically address the unique challenges of navigating and interpreting software engineering data.This book collects, structures and formalizes knowledge on recommendation systems in software engineering. It adopts a pragmatic approach with an explicit focus on system design, implementation, and evaluation. The book is divided into three parts: "Part I - Techniques" introduces basics for building recommenders in software engineering, including techniques for collecting and processing software engineering data, but also for presenting recommendations to users as part of their workflow.?"Part II - Evaluation" summarizes methods and experimental designs for evaluating recommendations in software engineering.?"Part III - Applications" describes needs, issues and solution concepts involved in entire recommendation systems for specific software engineering tasks, fo...

Foreword B150 –Civil Engineering Futures consists of interviews made, articles written, and projects presented in connection with the 150th anniversary celebrations of the study of civil engineering in Denmark. Instead of a historical retrospect, it was decided to look into the future. What...... challenges will the next 150 years bring civil engineers? Researchers and lecturers at DTU’s Department of Civil Engineering (known as DTU Byg) suggested possible events, and we also consulted civil engineers and their business partners in the building industry. In this way, a programme was put together...... theme in twentieth century architecture. Together, civil engineer Peter Rice and architect Ian Ritchie created a paradigm shift with their revolutionary ideas for glass facades supported by cables. Glued and bolted constructions made entirely of glass are now a reality in small-scale projects, yet...

One of the major challenges in tissue engineering is the translation of biological knowledge on complex cell and tissue behavior into a predictive and robust engineering process. Mastering this complexity is an essential step towards clinical applications of tissue engineering. This volume discusses computational modeling tools that allow studying the biological complexity in a more quantitative way. More specifically, computational tools can help in: (i) quantifying and optimizing the tissue engineering product, e.g. by adapting scaffold design to optimize micro-environmental signals or by adapting selection criteria to improve homogeneity of the selected cell population; (ii) quantifying and optimizing the tissue engineering process, e.g. by adapting bioreactor design to improve quality and quantity of the final product; and (iii) assessing the influence of the in vivo environment on the behavior of the tissue engineering product, e.g. by investigating vascular ingrowth. The book presents examples of each...

Statics is the first volume of a three-volume textbook on Engineering Mechanics. The authors, using a time-honoured straightforward and flexible approach, present the basic concepts and principles of mechanics in the clearest and simplest form possible to advanced undergraduate engineering students of various disciplines and different educational backgrounds. An important objective of this book is to develop problem solving skills in a systematic manner. Another aim of this volume is to provide engineering students as well as practising engineers with a solid foundation to help them bridge the gap between undergraduate studies on the one hand and advanced courses on mechanics and/or practical engineering problems on the other. The book contains numerous examples, along with their complete solutions. Emphasis is placed upon student participation in problem solving. The contents of the book correspond to the topics normally covered in courses on basic engineering mechanics at universities and colleges. Now in i...

Questionnaire to ask “mention three names of scientists you know” and “three names of engineers you know” was conducted and the answers from 140 adults were analyzed. The results indicated that the image of scientists is represented by Nobel laureates and that of engineers by great inventors like Thomas Edison and industry founders like Soichiro Honda. In order to reveal the image of engineers among young generation, questionnaire was conducted for pupils in middle and high schools. Answers from 1,230 pupils were analyzed and 226 names mentioned as engineers were classified. White votes reached 60%. Engineers who are neither big inventors nor company founders collected less than 1% of named votes. Engineers are astonishingly invisible from young generation. Countermeasures are proposed.

Global failures to reach a sustainable development within present-day societies as well as recent breakthroughs within technoscience pose new challenges to engineering education. The list of competencies which engineers should have to rise to these challenges is long and diverse, and often

"The efficient utilization of energy, sustainable use of natural resources, and large-scale adoption of sustainable technologies is the key to a sustainable future. The Handbook of Sustainable Engineering provides tools that will help us achieve these goals". Nobel Prize Winner Dr. R.K. Pauchauri, Chairman, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change As global society confronts the challenges of diminishing resources, ecological degradation, and climate change, engineers play a crucial role designing and building technologies and products that fulfil our needs for utility and sustainability. The Handbook of Sustainable Engineering equips readers with the context and the best practices derived from both academic research and practical examples of successful implementations of sustainable technical solutions. The handbook’s content revolves around the two themes, new ways of thinking and new business models, including sustainable production, products, service systems and consumption while addressing key asse...

This book mentions human engineering, which deals with introduction of human engineering, Man-Machine system like system design, and analysis and evaluation of Man-Machine system, data processing and data input, display, system control of man, human mistake and reliability, human measurement and design of working place, human working, hand tool and manual material handling, condition of working circumstance, working management, working analysis, motion analysis working measurement, and working improvement and design in human engineering.

This book deals with engineering electromagnetics. It contains seven chapters, which treats understanding of engineering electromagnetics such as magnet and electron spin, current and a magnetic field and an electromagnetic wave, Essential tool for engineering electromagnetics on rector and scalar, rectangular coordinate system and curl vector, electrostatic field with coulomb rule and method of electric images, Biot-Savart law, Ampere law and magnetic force, Maxwell equation and an electromagnetic wave and reflection and penetration of electromagnetic plane wave.

The ninth edition of Software Engineering presents a broad perspective of software engineering, focusing on the processes and techniques fundamental to the creation of reliable, software systems. Increased coverage of agile methods and software reuse, along with coverage of 'traditional' plan-driven software engineering, gives readers the most up-to-date view of the field currently available. Practical case studies, a full set of easy-to-access supplements, and extensive web resources make teaching the course easier than ever.

A major challenge now facing the world is the supply of energy needed for growth and development in a manner which is not only economically viable but also environmentally acceptable and sustainable in view of the demands of and risks to future generations. The internationally most significant pollutants from energy production through fossil fuels are SO 2 and NO x which cause acid rain, and CO 2 which is the most significant contributor to the greenhouse effect. Nuclear power, now providing about 17% of the world's electricity and 5% of the primary energy already is making a notable contribution to avoiding these emissions. While the industrialized countries will need more energy and especially electricity in the future, the needs of the developing countries are naturally much larger and present a tremendous challenge to the shaping of the world's future energy supply system. The advanced countries will have to accept special responsibilities, as they can most easily use advanced technologies and they have been and remain the main contributors to the environmental problems we now face. Energy conservation and resort to new renewable energy sources, though highly desirable, appear inadequate alone to meet the challenges. The world can hardly afford to do without an increased use of nuclear power, although it is strongly contested in many countries. The objections raised against the nuclear option focus on safety, waste management and disposal problems and the risk for proliferation of nuclear weapons. These issues are not without their problems. The risk of proliferation exists but will not appreciably diminish with lesser global reliance on nuclear power. The waste issue is more of a political than a technical problem. The use of nuclear power, or any other energy source, will never be at zero risk, but the risks are constantly reduced by new techniques and practices. The IAEA sees it as one of its priority tasks to promote such techniques. (author)

This international conference paper provides a forum for chemists and engineers from refinery, petrochemistry and the chemical industry as well as from academia to discuss new technologies and alternative feedstocks in petrochemistry and refining with the special topic ''Shale Gas, Heavy Oils and Coal''. 23 Lectures and 18 Posters are presented. All papers are analyzed for the ENERGY database.

As with the previous edition, the third edition of Engineering Tribology provides a thorough understanding of friction and wear using technologies such as lubrication and special materials. Tribology is a complex topic with its own terminology and specialized concepts, yet is vitally important throughout all engineering disciplines, including mechanical design, aerodynamics, fluid dynamics and biomedical engineering. This edition includes updated material on the hydrodynamic aspects of tribology as well as new advances in the field of biotribology, with a focus throughout on the engineering ap

Impacts of globalization on the engineering profession create a challenge in understanding what it means to be an engineer in the global economy of the 21st century and how should be prepared the future engineers. Engineering education today faced with request for preparation of the engineers with the necessary skills to cope with and benefit from the great changes that globalization brings. In this context, to understand how and how well we need to prepare the future engineers should be know...

From a supply chain view, this paper traces the flow of transportation fuels through required systems and addresses the current petroleum-based economy, DOE's vision for a future hydrogen-based transportation economy, and the challenges of a massive market and infrastructure transformation.

This paper details the Indian Solar City Programme, provides an overview of one city's Master Plan and implementation progress, describes NREL's support of the Indian Solar City Programme, and outlines synergies and differences between the Indian and American programs including unique challenges and opportunities India is facing.

Some two years ago we planned a series of Data Challenges starting at the end of 2001. At the time, that seemed to be comfortingly far in the future... Well, as the saying goes, doesn't time fly when you are having fun! ATLAS Computing is now deep in the throes of getting the first Data Challenge (DC0) up and running. One of the main aims of DC0 is to have a software 'release' in which we can generate full physics events, track all particles through the detector, simulate the detector response, reconstruct the event, and study it, with appropriate data storage en route. As all software is "always 95% ready" (!), we have been able to do most of this, more or less, for some time. But DC0 forces us to have everything working, together, at the same time: a reality check. DC0 should finish early next year, and it will be followed almost immediately afterwards by DC1 (DC0 was foreseen as the 'check' for DC1). DC1 will last into the middle of 2002, and has two major goals. The first is generation, simulation, and r...

This book presents the proceedings of the 2nd Pacific Rim Statistical Conference for Production Engineering: Production Engineering, Big Data and Statistics, which took place at Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea in December, 2016. The papers included discuss a wide range of statistical challenges, methods and applications for big data in production engineering, and introduce recent advances in relevant statistical methods.

In the battle to increase the numbers of African American Ph.D.s in science, technology and engineering, the nation may just have a secret weapon: historically Black colleges and universities. The statement may sound improbable. After all, only a handful of the nation's HBCUs offer doctoral programs. And education has long been the field of choice…

Food engineering is a rapidly changing discipline. Traditionally, the main focus was on food preservation and stabilization, whereas trends now are on diversity, health, taste, and sustainable production. Next to a general introduction of the definition of food engineering, this article gives a

Fluids engineering has played an important role in many applications, from ancient flood control to the design of high-speed compact turbomachinery. New applications of fluids engineering, such as in high-technology materials processing, biotechnology, and advanced combustion systems, have kept up unwaining interest in the subject. More accurate and sophisticated computational and measurement techniques are also constantly being developed and refined. On a more fundamental level, nonlinear dynamics and chaotic behavior of fluid flow are no longer an intellectual curiosity and fluid engineers are increasingly interested in finding practical applications for these emerging sciences. Applications of fluid technology to new areas, as well as the need to improve the design and to enhance the flexibility and reliability of flow-related machines and devices will continue to spur interest in fluids engineering. The objectives of the present seminar were: to exchange current information on arts, science, and technology of fluids engineering; to promote scientific cooperation between the fluids engineering communities of both nations, and to provide an opportunity for the participants and their colleagues to explore possible joint research programs in topics of high priority and mutual interest to both countries. The Seminar provided an excellent forum for reviewing the current state and future needs of fluids engineering for the two nations. With the Seminar ear-marking the first formal scientific exchange between Korea and the United States in the area of fluids engineering, the scope was deliberately left broad and general

Biomedical Engineering: Health Care Systems, Technology and Techniques is an edited volume with contributions from world experts. It provides readers with unique contributions related to current research and future healthcare systems. Practitioners and researchers focused on computer science, bioinformatics, engineering and medicine will find this book a valuable reference.

Presents a review of genetic engineering, in which the genotypes of plants and animals (including human genotypes) may be manipulated for the benefit of the human species. Discusses associated problems and solutions and provides an extensive bibliography of literature relating to genetic engineering. (JR)

A description is provided for a Corrosion and Corrosion Control course offered in the Continuing Engineering Education Program at the General Motors Institute (GMI). GMI is a small cooperative engineering school of approximately 2,000 students who alternate between six-week periods of academic study and six weeks of related work experience in…

The aim of Engineering Surveying has always been to impart and develop a clear understanding of the basic topics of the subject. The author has fully revised the book to make it the most up-to-date and relevant textbook available on the subject.The book also contains the latest information on trigonometric levelling, total stations and one-person measuring systems. A new chapter on satellites ensures a firm grasp of this vitally important topic.The text covers engineering surveying modules for civil engineering students on degree courses and forms a reference for the engineering surveying module in land surveying courses. It will also prove to be a valuable reference for practitioners.* Simple clear introduction to surveying for engineers* Explains key techniques and methods* Details reading systems and satellite position fixing

In an age of increasing complexity, diversification and change, customers expect services that cater to their needs and to their tastes. Emotional Engineering vol 2. describes how their expectations can be satisfied and managed throughout the product life cycle, if producers focus their attention more on emotion. Emotional engineering provides the means to integrate products to create a new social framework and develops services beyond product realization to create of value across a full lifetime. 14 chapters cover a wide range of topics that can be applied to product, process and industry development, with special attention paid to the increasing importance of sensing in the age of extensive and frequent changes, including: • Multisensory stimulation and user experience • Physiological measurement • Tactile sensation • Emotional quality management • Mental model • Kansei engineering. Emotional Engineering vol 2 builds on Dr Fukuda’s previous book, Emotional Engineering, and provides read...

The problem addressed is how to improve the performance of engineers in the design, operation, and maintenance of nuclear power plants. The application of computer science to this problem offers a challenge in maximizing the use of developments outside the nuclear industry and setting priorities to address the most fruitful areas first. Areas of potential benefits include data base management through design, analysis, procurement, construction, operation maintenance, cost, schedule and interface control and planning, and quality engineering on specifications, inspection, and training

This paper takes its departure in the EU-project MakEY - Makerspaces in the early years – enhancing digital literacy and creativity that is part of a H2020 RISE-program and is running January 2017 - June 2019. Here digital literacy and creative skills of young children between the age of 3......-8 will be developed through participation in creative activities in specially-designed spaces termed ‘makerspaces’. This paper discusses, develops and challenges this term in relation to Danish pedagogical traditions, to expanding makerspaces onto the internet and on how to combine narratives and construction....... The Danish part of the project will be undertaken by a small network of partners: DOKK1, a public library and open urban space in Aarhus, that is experimenting with different kind of makerspaces, spaces and encounters between people, The LEGO-LAB situated at Computer Science, Aarhus University, that has...

Full Text Available Tissue engineering aims to bring together biomaterials, cells, and signaling molecules within properly designed microenvironments in order to create viable treatment options for the lost or malfunctioning tissues. Design and production of scaffolds and cell-laden grafts that mimic the complex structural and functional features of tissues are among the most important elements of tissue engineering strategy. Although all tissues have their own complex structure, an even more complex case in terms of engineering a proper carrier material is encountered at the tissue interfaces, where two distinct tissues come together. The interfaces in the body can be examined in four categories; cartilage-bone and ligament-bone interfaces at the knee and the spine, tendon-bone interfaces at the shoulder and the feet, and muscle-tendon interface at the skeletal system. These interfaces are seen mainly at the soft-to-hard tissue transitions and they are especially susceptible to injury and tear due to the biomechanical inconsistency between these tissues where high strain fields are present. Therefore, engineering the musculoskeletal tissue interfaces remain a challenge. This review focuses on recent advancements in strategies for musculoskeletal interface engineering using different biomaterial-based platforms and surface modification techniques.

One of the grand challenges facing humanity today is a safe, clean, and sustainable energy system where combustion no longer dominates. This review proposes that electrochemical energy conversion could set the foundation for such an energy system. It further suggests that a simple switch from an acid to a base membrane coupled with innovative cell designs may lead to a new era of affordable electrochemical devices, including fuel cells, electrolyzers, solar hydrogen generators, and redox flow batteries, for which recent progress is discussed using the authors' work as examples. It also notes that electrochemical energy engineering will likely become a vibrant subdiscipline of chemical engineering and a fertile ground for chemical engineering innovation. To realize this vision, it is necessary to incorporate fundamental electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering principles into the chemical engineering curriculum.

Knowledge of the cellular pathways of glycosylation across phylogeny provides opportunities for designing glycans via genetic engineering in a wide variety of cell types including bacteria, fungi, plant cells, and mammalian cells. The commercial demand for glycosylation engineering is broad......, including production of biological therapeutics with defined glycosylation (Chapter 57). This chapter describes how knowledge of glycan structures and their metabolism (Parts I–III of this book) has led to the current state of glycosylation engineering in different cell types. Perspectives for rapid...

A practical introduction to the core mathematics required for engineering study and practiceNow in its seventh edition, Engineering Mathematics is an established textbook that has helped thousands of students to succeed in their exams.John Bird's approach is based on worked examples and interactive problems. This makes it ideal for students from a wide range of academic backgrounds as the student can work through the material at their own pace. Mathematical theories are explained in a straightforward manner, being supported by practical engineering examples and applications in order to ensure

A groundbreaking and comprehensive reference that's been a bestseller since it first debuted in 1970, the new seventh edition of Engineering Mathematics has been thoroughly revised and expanded. Providing a broad mathematical survey, this innovative volume covers a full range of topics from the very basic to the advanced. Whether you're an engineer looking for a useful on-the-job reference or want to improve your mathematical skills, or you are a student who needs an in-depth self-study guide, Engineering Mathematics is sure to come in handy time and time again.

This global survey presents a synthesis of some notable geotechnical and engineering information reflected in four interactive layer maps for selected: 1) deep mines and shafts; 2) existing, considered or planned radioactive waste management deep underground studies, sites, or disposal facilities; 3) deep large diameter boreholes, and 4) physics underground laboratories and facilities from around the world. These data are intended to facilitate user access to basic information and references regarding deep underground "facilities", history, activities, and plans. In general, the interactive maps and database [http://gis.inl.gov/globalsites/] provide each facility's approximate site location, geology, and engineered features (e.g.: access, geometry, depth, diameter, year of operations, groundwater, lithology, host unit name and age, basin; operator, management organization, geographic data, nearby cultural features, other). Although the survey is not all encompassing, it is a comprehensive review of many of the significant existing and historical underground facilities discussed in the literature addressing radioactive waste management and deep mined geologic disposal safety systems. The global survey is intended to support and to inform: 1) interested parties and decision makers; 2) radioactive waste disposal and siting option evaluations, and 3) safety case development as a communication tool applicable to any mined geologic disposal facility as a demonstration of historical and current engineering and geotechnical capabilities available for use in deep underground facility siting, planning, construction, operations and monitoring.

This textbook is ideal for mechanical engineering students preparing to enter the workforce during a time of rapidly accelerating technology, where they will be challenged to join interdisciplinary teams. It explains system dynamics using analogies familiar to the mechanical engineer while introducing new content in an intuitive fashion. The fundamentals provided in this book prepare the mechanical engineer to adapt to continuous technological advances with topics outside traditional mechanical engineering curricula by preparing them to apply basic principles and established approaches to new problems. This book also: · Reinforces the connection between the subject matter and engineering reality · Includes an instructor pack with the online publication that describes in-class experiments with minimal preparation requirements · Provides content dedicated to the modeling of modern interdisciplinary technological subjects, including opto-mechanical systems, high...

With IHEEM celebrating its 70th Anniversary this month, HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, recently met the Institute's oldest surviving Past-President, Lawrence Turner OBE, who, having in 1964 established a small engineering business producing some of the NHS's earliest nurse call systems from the basement of his three-storey West Midlands home, has since seen the company, Static Systems Group, grow to become one of the U.K. market-leaders in its field. The Institute's President from 1979-1981, he looked back, during a fascinating two-hour discussion, at his time in the role, talked through some of the key technological and other changes he has seen in the past five decades, reflected on an interesting and varied career, and considered some of the very different current-day challenges that today's IHEEM President, and the Institute as a whole, face.

The Glomar Challenger has a length of 400 ft, a 65-ft beam, and a depth of 27 ft 6-in. She has a draft of 20 ft with a gross displacement of 10,500 long tons. The principal specifications of the vessel are tabulated. To achieve dynamic positioning, 4 fixed thrusters and the vessel's 2 propulsion screws are utilized. The ''fix'' is obtained by placing a sonar beacon, with self contained batteries, on the ocean floor at a selected site. The vessel is provided with 4 hydrophones installed in the hull at the 4 corners of a square. The sonar beacon radiates sound waves at a fixed pulse rate. If the vessel is directly over the beacon, the sound waves will arrive at all hydrophones simultaneously. A difference in time of arrival indicates the vessel is off location. The sound signals received by the hydrophones are fed into a computer. They are changed into coordinate information, which serves as the primary function of determining corrective action by the vessel's propulsion and thruster system. The computer feeds back information into a control system, which enables the propulsion and thrusters to automatically respond, in order to keep the vessel on the predetermined location. The major drilling components are listed. The deep-sea drilling project is described. A summary of the first leg is given in tabular form.

The first lecture reminds us of the ITER challenges, presents hard engineering problems, typically due to mechanical forces and thermal loads and identifies where the physics uncertainties play a significant role in the engineering requirements. The second lecture presents soft engineering problems of measuring the plasma parameters, feedback control of the plasma and handling the physics data flow and slow controls data flow from a large experiment like ITER. The last three lectures focus on superconductors for fusion. The third lecture reviews the design criteria and manufacturing methods for 6 milestone-conductors of large fusion devices (T-7, T-15, Tore Supra, LHD, W-7X, ITER). The evolution of the designer approach and the available technologies are critically discussed. The fourth lecture is devoted to the issue of performance prediction, from a superconducting wire to a large size conductor. The role of scaling laws, self-field, current distribution, voltage-current characteristic and transposition are...

Articulated splines are commonly used in the planetary stage of wind turbine gearboxes for transmitting the driving torque and improving load sharing. Direct measurement of spline loads and performance is extremely challenging because of limited accessibility. This paper presents an analytical model for the analysis of articulated spline coupling designs. For a given torque and shaft misalignment, this analytical model quickly yields insights into relationships between the spline design parameters and resulting loads; bending, contact, and shear stresses; and safety factors considering various heat treatment methods. Comparisons of this analytical model against previously published computational approaches are also presented.

The most common form of utility- sized energy storage system is the pumped storage hydro system. Originally, these types of storage systems were economically viable simply because they displace more expensive generating units. However, over time, as those expensive units became more efficient and costs declined, pumped hydro storage units no longer have the operational edge. As a result, in the current electricity market environment, pumped storage hydro plants are struggling. To offset this phenomenon, certain market modifications should be addressed. This paper will introduce some of the challenges faced by pumped storage hydro plants in today's markets and purpose some solutions to those problems.

Traditional probabilistic methods have been used to evaluate resource adequacy. The increasing presence of variable renewable generation in power systems presents a challenge to these methods because, unlike thermal units, variable renewable generation levels change over time because they are driven by meteorological events. Thus, capacity value calculations for these resources are often performed to simple rules of thumb. This paper follows the recommendations of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation?s Integration of Variable Generation Task Force to include variable generation in the calculation of resource adequacy and compares different reliability metrics. Examples are provided using the Western Interconnection footprint under different variable generation penetrations.

Several methods have been proposed in the literature to find a state-space model for the wave-radiation forces. In this paper, four methods were compared, two in the frequency domain and two in the time domain. The frequency-response function and the impulse response of the resulting state-space models were compared against the ones derived by the numerical code WAMIT. The implementation of the state-space module within the FAST offshore wind turbine computer-aided engineering (CAE) tool was verified, comparing the results against the previously implemented numerical convolution method. The results agreed between the two methods, with a significant reduction in required computational time when using the state-space module.

For courses in computer science and software engineering The Fundamental Practice of Software Engineering Software Engineering introduces readers to the overwhelmingly important subject of software programming and development. In the past few years, computer systems have come to dominate not just our technological growth, but the foundations of our world's major industries. This text seeks to lay out the fundamental concepts of this huge and continually growing subject area in a clear and comprehensive manner. The Tenth Edition contains new information that highlights various technological updates of recent years, providing readers with highly relevant and current information. Sommerville's experience in system dependability and systems engineering guides the text through a traditional plan-based approach that incorporates some novel agile methods. The text strives to teach the innovators of tomorrow how to create software that will make our world a better, safer, and more advanced place to live.

A high efficiency harmonic engine based on a resonantly reciprocating piston expander that extracts work from heat and pressurizes working fluid in a reciprocating piston compressor. The engine preferably includes harmonic oscillator valves capable of oscillating at a resonant frequency for controlling the flow of working fluid into and out of the expander, and also preferably includes a shunt line connecting an expansion chamber of the expander to a buffer chamber of the expander for minimizing pressure variations in the fluidic circuit of the engine. The engine is especially designed to operate with very high temperature input to the expander and very low temperature input to the compressor, to produce very high thermal conversion efficiency.

The expansion of nuclear power is taxing human, material, and capital resources in developed and developing countries. This paper explores the human resources as represented by employment, graduation statistics, and educational curricula for nuclear engineers. (E.C.B.)

Green Engineering is the design, commercialization and use of processes and products that are feasible and economical while reducing the generation of pollution at the source and minimizing the risk to human health and the environment.